Tesla may return to accepting Bitcoin as payment

Tesla may soon return to accepting Bitcoin and crypto as payment. 

The global electric vehicle giant led by Elon Musk, reportedly released in its September 2021 report its future consideration.

Tesla and Bitcoin as a means of payment

In its quarterly report filed with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) in September 2021, Tesla set out its situation and future considerations including digital assets. 

Specifically, here’s how it describes the period from March to May 2021, when it had accepted Bitcoin as a payment method: 

“In addition, during the three months ended March 31, 2021, we accepted bitcoin as a payment for sales of certain of our products in specified regions, subject to applicable laws, and suspended this practice in May 2021. We may in the future restart the practice of transacting in cryptocurrencies (“digital assets”) for our products and services”.

Not only that, a future consideration in this regard is added:

“We believe in the long term potential of digital assets both as an investment and also as a liquid alternative to cash”.

Tesla and its relationship with Bitcoin 

The future considerations are part of the same report for the third quarter of 2021 published a few days ago, in which Tesla shows that it holds $1.26 billion in Bitcoin and crypto. 

As the latest tweets of its CEO, Elon Musk, clearly point out, the cryptocurrencies would be BTC, ETH and DOGE. 

In fact, the dollar value of the total amount of cryptocurrencies held by Tesla is $51 million less than in the previous quarter, when it was $1.311 billion. 

And so while last May 2021, Tesla had momentarily suspended Bitcoin payments, the rally in the price of the queen of cryptocurrencies had stopped and rebounded. After Musk’s announcement, BTC had fallen from $54,000 to $46,000 in just two hours, recovering to $51,000 in the next 24 hours. 

The decision to suspend payments in BTC was due to the excessive consumption of fossil fuels in Bitcoin mining, which many believe is damaging to the environment, going against Tesla’s sustainable electric cars. 

Elon Musk and support for the crypto queen 

Despite environmental concerns, the peer-to-peer model offered by BTC, unique in its kind, has convinced the world’s richest man. 

Indeed, it seems that his electric vehicle company may soon restart the process of accepting Bitcoin as a method of payment. 

In this regard, last June, Musk had already shared a tweet stating that only when there is a reasonable use of at least 50% clean energy by miners, Tesla will be able to allow transactions in Bitcoin. 

Meanwhile, Musk also stated last weekend to exclude Shiba Inu tokens (SHIB) from his wallet. Nevertheless, the “Dogecoin Killer” continues its climb in terms of market capitalization, worth $0.000042 at the time of writing.