Through a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Tesla has announced a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin, with plans to begin accepting Bitcoin as payment for electric cars.  The company claims in the filing that they made the move to allow for “more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash.”  

The news comes after Tesla CEO Elon Musk vocally supported Bitcoin, calling himself “late to the party” and briefly adding #bitcoin to his Twitter bio. Tesla joins 36% of American businesses and organizations which accept cryptocurrency as payment, including Microsoft, Wikipedia, and PayPal. The news has dramatically inflated the value of BTC, which was valued at above $50k for the first time.

As Bitcoin becomes more accepted and accessible, it will likely become a major part of the future of currency. Other firms, such as business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, have invested significant amounts of money as well. For these companies, the combination of an increasing value, high liquidity, and cut in taxes due to Bitcoin’s status as an investment more than make up for the high volatility of the market.  

Tesla’s original $1.5 billion investment ten days ago has already greatly inflated in value to almost $2 billion. Overall, despite Bitcoin’s volatility, new bull cycles are seeing the highs and lows both remain higher and more reliable, which will no doubt lead to increased investment into the cryptocurrency in the future.