Musk, the "dog dealer", announced that he will accept Bitcoin for car purchases again!

As the former world's richest man, Musk has once again refreshed the lower limits of human cognition.

Recently, according to media reports, Musk, CEO of Tesla, said at a meeting that after completing due diligence on the amount of renewable energy used for Bitcoin mining, Tesla is likely to start accepting Bitcoin as a payment method again.

With Musk's "help", Bitcoin hit a three-month high this week.

On August 23, Bitcoin rose above $50,000 during the Asian session and before the European stock market opened, breaking this mark for the first time in three months.

Bitcoin hit a high of $64,000 in April this year, and then almost halved in mid-to-late May. Since late July, Bitcoin has gradually regained its upward momentum, breaking through the technical barriers of $47,000 and $48,000.

This process was accompanied by Musk's capriciousness and fueling:

On March 24, 2021, Tesla announced that it would accept Bitcoin to buy cars, and since then, the price of Bitcoin has soared;

On May 13, Musk tweeted that Bitcoin mining wastes energy, so he stopped accepting Bitcoin as a payment method. As soon as the tweet was released, Bitcoin plummeted, and nearly 300,000 people were liquidated in 24 hours.

Public information shows that Tesla has made huge profits in this process. Musk obviously deserves the title of "dog dealer".

Musk's erratic behavior

Musk's entanglement with Bitcoin is like a soap opera. Over the course of several months, his attitude towards Bitcoin has fluctuated back and forth, like a surrealist farce.

On March 24, 2021, Tesla announced that it could accept Bitcoin to buy cars, and announced that Tesla had spent more than $1 billion to buy Bitcoin.

So it is obvious that Tesla bought Bitcoin before it officially announced that it would accept Bitcoin for car purchases.

Tesla previously stated that as of March 31, the value of the company's Bitcoin holdings was US$2.48 billion (approximately RMB 16 billion).

On May 13, Musk tweeted that Bitcoin mining wastes energy, so he stopped accepting Bitcoin as a payment method. As soon as the tweet was released, Bitcoin plummeted, and nearly 300,000 people were liquidated in 24 hours.

What is shocking is that Tesla's first quarter 2021 financial report showed that the company's net profit was US$438 million; of which US$101 million (RMB 700 million) came from Tesla's sale of Bitcoin at a high price, accounting for 22.8% of its total profit.

This time, Musk once again updated his views on Bitcoin. At the Bitcoin conference held on July 21, he claimed to be a Bitcoin supporter and said that Tesla might accept Bitcoin payments again.

On August 25, the media reported that Musk said at a meeting that after completing due diligence on the amount of renewable energy used for Bitcoin mining, Tesla is likely to start accepting Bitcoin as a payment method again.

As the former richest man in the world and the spiritual godfather in the hearts of millions of people, Musk's "calling orders" has been unpredictable. While causing countless people to lose their fortunes, he himself has made a fortune. Ye Fei, a private equity big V who is involved in market value management, and Yi Wei, a director of Sanfu Outdoor who is suspected of manipulating the company's stock price on Weibo, have called him an expert.

This time, Musk also said:

“I would like to conduct more due diligence to confirm that renewable energy utilization is likely to reach or exceed 50% and that this proportion is increasing. If this is the case, Tesla will resume accepting Bitcoin payments.” (I am about to start slapping my face, but I need a reason)

“Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the arrival of the sustainable energy era. We can’t do that without doing proper investigation into Bitcoin’s energy usage.” (I’m a socially responsible person, I’m serious now, I’m not laughing)

“I may push the price up, but I won’t sell at every high. I absolutely don’t believe in driving the price up and then selling it… I want to see Bitcoin succeed.” (My friends, believe me, Bitcoin is going to rise, just follow my orders)

This statement is very different from what Musk said on May 13 when he announced that Tesla would refuse Bitcoin payments. It can be said that "I killed myself."

At that time, Musk said: "Tesla has suspended the use of Bitcoin to buy cars (leeks tremble). We are concerned about the rapid increase in the use of fossil fuels in Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of all fuels (Musk, the perfect man of the ages, are you moved to tears?). Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels, and we believe it has a bright future, but this cannot be at the expense of the environment (leeks should also improve their realm and stop being money-minded). Tesla will not sell any Bitcoin, and we intend to use Bitcoin for transactions when mining transitions to more sustainable energy (although the financial report shows that it has been sold, I now deny that I have sold it, I am not a black dealer). We are also paying attention to other cryptocurrencies that consume less than 1% of Bitcoin's energy per transaction (goodbye leeks, I'm looking for the next dealer target)."

Buying Tesla with Bitcoin is extremely risky

In fact, using Bitcoin to buy Tesla is extremely risky, and it can even be said to be unrealistic.

According to Tesla's previous Bitcoin payment terms, Bitcoin transactions must be completed within a certain time frame, otherwise the price of BTC rises or falls, and the buyer must require the Bitcoin transaction to be completed at the latest market price.

As we all know, the price of Bitcoin changes in real time. Tesla once said, "If you are willing to pay with Bitcoin, it will take about 30 minutes to pay."

Given the huge volatility of Bitcoin, it may drop thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in 30 minutes. Both car buyers and Tesla may be hit by large fluctuations, making it difficult to complete the transaction within a certain period of time.

Tesla’s Bitcoin payment terms are highlighted with a warning: “If you enter the Bitcoin address incorrectly, your Bitcoin may be lost or destroyed. We are not responsible for any failure to correctly enter the alphanumeric code into the payment address.”

Some media have pointed out: Due to the inherent complexity of the Bitcoin system, if the address is entered incorrectly, it means that your Bitcoin may have entered someone else's wallet, you have no way of knowing who the other party is, and the entire process is irreversible.

In addition, Tesla's addition of Bitcoin payment methods may increase Tesla's car purchase tax again. Using this new payment method may cause buyers who buy Tesla to pay 53% more tax than buyers who use fiat currency to buy other brands of the same price. If buyers choose to pay with Bitcoin, they may face more taxes because the IRS will regard Bitcoin payments as the sale of recently appreciated assets by buyers.

Therefore, using Bitcoin to buy Tesla is more like a performance art. So far, Tesla has not announced how many people have actually used Bitcoin to buy Tesla.

However, United Wholesale Mortgage, the second largest mortgage lender in the United States, also announced this week a plan to accept Bitcoin for mortgage payments, setting a precedent in the U.S. industry.

Mat Ishbia, president of United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), said the company hopes to enable bitcoin payments in the third quarter, thus becoming a leader in technology and innovation.

On Thursday, August 5, blockchain and cryptocurrency industry information website U.Today reported that Xiaomi's Portuguese store began accepting the world's top three digital currencies and other cryptocurrencies as a means of payment.

New business? Musk supports using nuclear power plants to mine cryptocurrencies

On July 21, Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed his support for the use of nuclear energy during his speech at the conference. At that time, Musk also said when talking about the sustainability of Bitcoin mining, "I think modern nuclear power plants are safe, contrary to what people may think."

In the second quarter of this year, Tesla stopped making money from Bitcoin transactions. Bitcoin went from contributing more than $100 million in revenue in the first quarter to generating an impairment of $20 million.

However, in the third quarter, Musk is likely to make a fortune from Bitcoin again. Because Musk has once again invested heavily in Bitcoin, and with the rising price of Bitcoin, it is hard to say whether Musk will sell at a high price again.

On July 29, Musk said on Twitter that Tesla's Bitcoin holdings were "close to" $1.47 billion.