Tesla Buys $1.5B Worth of Bitcoin

The bitcoin price is surging higher today as Tesla, the world-famous electric vehicle manufacturer, has moved $1.5 billion from its cash position to bitcoin.

According to SEC filings, the firm is buying bitcoin to provide "more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash.” It was also indicated that this purchase will be followed by Tesla accepting bitcoin for its vehicles, dependent on local laws.

$1.5 billion is equivalent to around 40,000 bitcoin, assuming Tesla bought their coins around $37,000, where the price of the cryptocurrency spent most of the past week.

$1.5 billion represents nearly 10% of the firm's cash position. According to SEC filings, prior to this purchase, the company held around $19 billion worth of cash and cash equivalents. 

This purchase comes shortly after Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, began to joust with the cryptocurrency space once again. The week before last, he included "#bitcoin" in his Twitter bio, subsequently tweeting, "in retrospect, it was inevitable." 

Explaining that decision in a Clubhouse event on the weekend, he said that he is a "supporter of bitcoin" and thinks the cryptocurrency is a "good thing."

In a recent street interview with TMZ, Musk also said that he thinks "crypto" is where the money is going. 

More to Come

There may be more of this type of investment to come from other firms.

Last week, Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy hosted an event that allowed corporate officers across the globe to learn about Bitcoin and how they can get involved with the cryptocurrency.

He told CNBC that the event would have thousands of executives and officers of top companies at a conference discussing how they can get involved in Bitcoin:

"We’re going to have thousands of executives, officers…directors, & advisors of corporations coming together in the first week of February. They all want to figure out how to plug bitcoin into their balance sheet or their P&L…We’re going to open source it."