Tesla CEO Elon Musk. (IANS Photo)
SAN FRANCISCO, MARCH 24 (IANS): Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday that people in the US can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoins, and the option to pay with the popular cryptocurrency will be available to other countries later this year.
The electric car company announced to start accepting Bitcoin as payment over a month ago. Tesla has already invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoins.
One Bitcoin is currently worth a little over $56,000, which means people need to pay a little less than one coin to buy the entry-level Tesla.
The entry-level Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus has a starting price of $37,990. The Long Range starts at $46,990, and the top-of-the-line Performance begins at $54,990.
"You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin," Musk said in a tweet.
"Tesla is using only internal & open source software & operates Bitcoin nodes directly. Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin, not converted to fiat currency," he added.
He further said that pay by Bitcoin capability will be "available outside US later this year".
The option to pay using the cryptocurrency now appears on the company's US website.
The users will have the option of scanning a QR code or copying and pasting its bitcoin wallet address to initiate the payment.
According to Tesla's Bitcoin payment terms and conditions, its vehicles will continue to be priced in US dollars.
Musk has also been sending tweets in support of Dogecoin, leading to a rise in the cryptocurrency's value.
