[Article updated 24 March 2021, 4.15pm]
Electric car giant Tesla has begun accepting payment for its vehicles in the form of Bitcoin.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted the update today (March 24). He also added that Tesla is using “only internal and open source software, and operates Bitcoin nodes directly.”
Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin, and will not be converted to fiat currency.
At the time of writing, one Bitcoin is worth US $55,460.12 (S$74,715.32).
This Option Is Not Available In Singapore Yet
Despite Bitcoin being a global currency, the payment option looks to be only available in certain markets for now. On Tesla’s United States site, the option to pay with Bitcoin is already available.
The Tesla support page also lists information about the new payment type. US buyers can initiate payment from their Bitcoin wallets by scanning the QR code available, or copying and pasting the Bitcoin address and the exact Bitcoin amount into their wallets.
However, Singaporeans will not be able to pay for their Tesla vehicles using Bitcoin just yet as the option is not available on Tesla Singapore’s sales portal.
Earlier in February, Tesla received the green light to start selling its electric cars in Singapore.
According to Tesla’s support page, it is only supporting Bitcoin for customers in the continental United States, but will consider expanding into new markets in the future.
Elon Musk also added in a follow-up tweet that the pay by Bitcoin capability will be available outside of the US “later this year”.
Featured Image Credit: Financial Times
