Tesla and Bitcoin: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Tesla and Bitcoin: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

GameStop mania was a wake-up call, but now the capital markets have truly reached ludicrous mode.

Electric-car maker Tesla said in a securities filing Monday that it has purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and that it expects to begin accepting payment in the cryptocurrency for its products in the future. Tesla shares and bitcoin both traded higher after the announcement. This follows social media posts by the auto maker's influential boss, Elon Musk, that already had helped drive bitcoin's price to a record. The announcement added roughly $100 billion to the combined market value of bitcoin and Tesla on Monday.

The investment is more than symbolic for the company, being equivalent to Tesla's research-and-development tab for 2020. And while uniting two of the most popular investment themes under one roof is undoubtedly a winner today, the decision introduces even more risk to owning what is already one of the most speculative stocks of the current bull market.

As Tesla itself said in