Bitcoin’s time in the sun with Tesla investment

With Elon Musk, bitcoin may have finally found strong ground. The electric car maker, Tesla has invested USD 1.5 Billion in bitcoin. Going by its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla will accept payments in bitcoin adhering “to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis.”

Musk has been vocal about bitcoin on Twitter often. Even in his appearance on social media app Clubhouse, Musk voiced his thoughts that bitcoin is a good thing and is on the verge of getting broad acceptance by conventional finance people. In yet another of his twitter storms, Musk tweeted about Dogecoin—another cryptocurrency, introduced in December 2013 as a joke—thereby driving up its price.

The Indian government introduced the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, which states banning of all the private cryptocurrencies. The government has sought for creation of Reserve Bank of India’s sovereign digital currency.

Tesla’s move could favor adoption of cryptocurrency by India. With several developed economies and corporations encouraging private cryptocurrencies, India might miss the bus on the technology.

MicroStrategy, a business analytics firm providing cloud services buys $650 million in bitcoin. The CEO, Michael Saylor, too personally holds bitcoin worth approximately $616 million.

Grayscale Investments holds close to $2 billion worth of bitcoin in its portfolio. It is one of the largest investments in the cryptocurrency made by a platform of its kind.