TL;DR Breakdown:
- Tesla isn’t going to be the first company to accept Bitcoin for cars.
- Tilman Fertitta’s dealership has already sold Bentleys and Rolls Royces for Bitcoin since 2018.
On Monday, billionaire Elon Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, adding the cryptocurrency as a reserve asset. This sparked excitement amongst the crypto market participants, and it was widely covered by popular international news outlets. In addition to the announcement, the company also informed its plans to start accepting Bitcoin payments for electric cars.
Many people welcomed the idea. However, it’s also worth noting that Tesla won’t be the first company to sell autos with the cryptocurrency.
Tesla not first: A dealership sold Bentleys for BTC
American Billionaire businessman, Tilman Fertitta, is among the people who welcomed Tesla’s idea to accept cryptocurrency for their products. However, while speaking with CNBC, he mentioned that his dealership already accepted the cryptocurrency for more than a dozen luxurious vehicles like Bentleys about three years ago. According to Fertitta, they accepted BTC for the first time in 2018, when the cryptocurrency was trading between $6,000 and $7,000.
“Tesla taking it is much more important than me taking it, but believe it or not, we’ve sold 17 cars — Bentleys and [Rolls-Royces] — with bitcoin,” the billionaire told CNBC on Tuesday. “We’ve always talked about being innovative and ahead of everybody else, and don’t be a dinosaur around here, or you won’t last.”
Fertitta has been a Bitcoin believer since 2017. He spoke positively about the cryptocurrency, saying that BTC is “here to stay.” Recently, Elon Musk made a similar statement that Bitcoin is a good thing.
Elon Musk talks BTC
The tech billionaire made the statement in a recent session on the mobile app Clubhouse last week. He regretted not buying the cryptocurrency earlier when his friends asked him to do so in 2013. Prior to his statement, Musk had shilled Bitcoin and Dogecoin on his Twitter handle, where he also disclosed he wouldn’t mind being paid with Bitcoin.
