Bitcoin Flies To Over $44k After Tesla Purchases $1.5 Billion in BTC

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By Niels Broekhuijsen
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Tesla to accept Bitcoin Payments in the future

Shutterstock image of Elon Musk
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk has been rather vocal about his enthusiasm for cryptocurrency lately, and now, the automaker Tesla has purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, according to a new SEC filing. The automaker also stated that it would start accepting Bitcoin payments in the near future, meaning you'll be able to buy a Tesla with just cryptocurrency exchanging hands. Unfortunately, that isn't good news for hardware enthusiasts as it means that demand for other coins, including those mined with GPUs, could intensify, exacerbating the ongoing shortages. 

Tesla claims to have bought in this much bitcoin to "to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash" (Section 22 of the SEC filing) -- likely meaning it will sell at least some of the cryptocurrency in the future.

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But, curiously, Tesla's move came right before Elon Musk expressed enthusiasm about Bitcoin and Dogecoin on Twitter, which appears to have led both cryptocurrencies to higher prices. As such, Bitcoin is currently at a staggering price of over $44,000 USD, with Dogecoin moving from half a cent to well above 8 cents per coin, a new record high. 

Considering the filing is from January, chances are that the $1.5 billion investment has already surpassed $2 billion in value.

That being said, this isn't great news for PC hardware. As Cryptocurrencies become more expensive, mining crypto becomes more profitable and therefore, miners will be willing to pay higher prices for graphics cards, which will only make the shortage worse than it already is. News just broke that Nvidia's RTX 3000 series GPUs are set for concerning shortages in Q1, and this is likely to only make matters worse.

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • thepersonwithaface45
    hodl my eth brothers
    Reply
  • zodiacfml
    more than $70 billion added to bitcoin marketcap with the news. Small up swing to other coins but miniscule compared to bitcoin which is puzzling.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    Between this and Tesla freely giving their IP to the Chinese government, I'm pretty glad I'm not an investor in Tesla.
    GM makes more cars in any given year than Tesla has made in their entire history. So Tesla really doesn't hold much of value for investors to liquidate when the momentum bubble pops - which will be sometime in the next 2 years when the fastest Chinese competitor starts selling perfect Tesla clones and a dozen smaller companies start to Control+V Tesla's self-driving tech into their current lines of vehicles.
    But hey, I'm sure the crypto pump-and-dump scheme is a totally sustainable and will remain legal for a long time. The current administration probably doesn't have any interest in regulating or taxing the crypto market.
    Reply
  • gg83
    I really thought the bottom would have dropped out by now. All these big firms will take their money out and the little guys will loose big. History usually repeats itself. Its just hard to predict when
    Reply
  • jasonelmore
    I see the boomers are out in full force, mad they don't hold any BTC or ETH
    Reply
  • burnsede
    1 btc is almost 60k$ ! Thank you, Elon Musk! Bitcoin was always my favorite cryptocurrency, and I always believed that it's going to grow a lot! I have already earned 4 bitcoins on btc gambling, but I am not going to cash them out. My goal is to earn enough bitcoin and buy a lambo on it. Fortunately, btc grows, and basically, I am earning money every day from nothing. A lambo costs 7 bitcoins, and I already got 4, so I am really close to my dream!
    Reply