Tesla invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin, plans to accept it as payment

Tesla invested in Bitcoin worth $1.5 billion in January 2021, after the company revised its investment strategy to invest in cryptocurrency, a filing with the Stock Exchange Commission revealed. 

In order to provide us with more flexibility to further diversify and optimize returns on our cash that are not needed to sustain sufficient operational liquidity, we have revised our investment strategy,' the document filed by Tesla revealed.

In another significant document, the firm announced it will in the future begin accepting Bitcoin as payment for its products and services.

The movements posed immediate concerns regarding the actions of CEO Elon Musk on Twitter in recent weeks, where he was credited for raising the prices of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and dogecoin through sharing encouraging tweets that inspired more individuals to purchase digital currencies.

Two weeks ago, Musk added the hashtag #bitcoin to his bio on Twitter, in a step that helped drive the cryptocurrency price up momentarily by as much as 20 percent.

According to the company’s most recent filing, at the end of 2020, the electric vehicle and clean energy company have over $19 billion in cash and cash equivalents on hand.

In January, the blockchain was trading in the range of around $30,000 to $40,000. On Monday morning, it was trading at about $41,600. Moreover, Tesla stock soared by more than 2 per cent.