Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin

Elon Musk wasn't playing when he recently changed his Twitter bio to "#bitcoin."

According to a SEC filing by Tesla, the company has purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin.

"In January 2021, we updated our investment policy to provide us with more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash that is not required to maintain adequate operating liquidity," the filing reads.

"As part of the policy, which was duly approved by the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors, we may invest a portion of such cash in certain alternative reserve assets including digital assets (...) Thereafter, we invested an aggregate $1.50 billion in bitcoin under this policy and may acquire and hold digital assets from time to time or longterm."

According to the filing, Tesla may also start accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for its products in the "near future."

With the move, Tesla is following in the footsteps of MicroStrategy, a software company which recently invested over a billion dollars in Bitcoin, which may have caught the attention of Musk.

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Musk recently spoke positively about Bitcoin, saying during a Clubhouse chat session that the cryptocurrency will get "broad acceptance" in the future.

Shortly after his comments on Bitcoin, Musk removed the mention of Bitcoin from his Twitter bio and started sharing memes about the joke cryptocurrency DOGE, whose value has soared, possibly as a result of these comments.

Notably, while Tesla's SEC filing mentions only Bitcoin by name, it does say the company "may acquire digital assets." The filing also says Tesla is now free to invest in gold bullion and gold exchange-traded funds.

Following the news, the price of Bitcoin immediately skyrocketed to over $43,000, a new record high for the cryptocurrency.

Disclosure: The author of this text owns, or has recently owned, a number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH.