Bitcoin surges above $43,000 to a record after Elon Musk’s Tesla buys $1.5 billion

Bitcoin surges above $43,000 to a record after Elon Musk’s Tesla buys $1.5 billion

The world's largest cryptocurrency was trading 15% higher at $44,141 after Tesla's announcement, according to Coin Metrics. Bitcoin just finished a banner year with its price more than quadrupling in 2020.

Bitcoin's price jumped sharply to an all-time high after Tesla revealed a big stake in the cryptocurrency and said it would start accepting payments in the digital coin for its products.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla announced Monday that it bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin for "more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash." It also said it may invest a future portion of its assets in digital assets and that it will accept bitcoin as payment for products "subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis."

The move makes Tesla the first major automaker to accept bitcoin as payment.

Tesla's stake in bitcoin "will have a ripple effect across corporations around the global," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note. It is a "potential game changing move for the use of bitcoin from a transactional perspective."

CEO Elon Musk has been talking up bitcoin as well as meme-inspired token dogecoin in recent tweets, which many believe drove the recent runup in