Bitcoin’s price reached another record high Tuesday, pushing past $48,000 after electric car giant Tesla revealed it had invested $1.5 billion in the controversial asset and would soon be accepting it as a form of payment for its electric cars, Forbes reports.
In the filing Monday, Tesla warned investors of the “highly volatile” nature of digital assets and the developing regulatory framework surrounding digital currencies.
Tesla’s investment, as well as its intent to accept bitcoin as a form of payment, is a significant step towards mainstream acceptance of the cryptocurrency, which remains a relatively niche asset.
Tesla’s purchase of Bitcoin places CEO Elon Musk, once again, at the center of another cryptocurrency spike. The billionaire’s tweets can send its value skyrocketing, with the price of Bitcoin surging more than 15% in 15 minutes when he added the hashtag #bitcoin to his profile at the end of January. Musk’s tweets have also boosted the value of Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency originally invented as a joke value, triggering a 900% surge in January as retail traders, emboldened by efforts to pump meme stocks like GameStop, piled into the cryptocurrency.
