Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to announce that Tesla will now be accepting Bitcoin, the world’s largest digital currency, as an alternate mode of payment. He tweeted, “You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin”.
With this latest announcement, Tesla becomes the first major car company to start accepting payments in Bitcoin in exchange for its products. CEO Elon Musk has clarified that Tesla is using only internal and open source software and operates Bitcoin nodes directly. He also said that Bitcoin paid to the company will be retained as Bitcoin and not be converted into Fiat currency. Currently, the Bitcoin payment option is available only for customers in the USA. However, Musk has said that it will be made available outside the States by the end of 2021.
Also Read: Tesla Sales Take a Hit From Rising Popularity of Ford Mustang Mach-E
Tesla had disclosed in February this year that it has bought USD 1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. The electric car manufacturer had said that it did so for “more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on its cash". This was a big hint that the company might start accepting Bitcoin as an alternate mode of payment.
As for the Indian market, Tesla has registered its R&D facility in Karnataka. The documents registered by the company states that the India subsidiary will be named 'Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Ltd', which was incorporated in Bengaluru on 8 January 2021. Based on the available information, the company will be headed by Venkatarangam Sreeram (Bengaluru-based start-up entrepreneur), Vaibhav Taneja (Chief Accounting Officer), and David Feinstein (Global Senior Director of Tesla).
As per the previous reports, Tesla will be manufacturing its cars here in India. The details are scarce at the moment and the company hasn’t made any official announcements yet. It’s being said that the electric automaker will be bringing its products to India via the CBU route before eventually manufacturing them here in India. Tesla is expected to launch its first car in India by June this year which is speculated to be the Model 3.
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