Tesla supports Bitcoin for car purchases, but don’t be happy, it may be illegal

Tesla becomes the world's first car company to support Bitcoin payments.

Tesla's US official website shows that users can choose to pay with Bitcoin when purchasing a vehicle. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also said on social media that Tesla can now be purchased with Bitcoin. However, Tesla only uses internal open source software to directly operate Bitcoin nodes. Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin and will not be converted into legal currency.

Tesla’s official U.S. website shows that it currently only supports customers in the United States to use Bitcoin for payment, and will consider new markets in the future.

You Yunting, partner of Shanghai Dabang Law Firm, told reporters that according to the provisions of the "Notice on Preventing Bitcoin Risks" issued by the People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, Bitcoin does not have the same legal status as currency, cannot and should not be circulated and used as currency in the market, and financial institutions and payment institutions are not allowed to carry out Bitcoin-related business.

According to the above regulations, financial institutions are not allowed to provide customers with Bitcoin registration, trading, clearing, settlement and other services, accept Bitcoin or use Bitcoin as a payment settlement tool, conduct Bitcoin and RMB and foreign currency exchange services, conduct Bitcoin storage, custody, mortgage and other businesses, issue Bitcoin-related financial products, use Bitcoin as an investment target for trusts, funds and other investments, etc.

"If Tesla accepts Bitcoin, it can only receive it, but cannot convert Bitcoin into RMB through financial institutions, so it cannot be used externally, and cannot pay for goods, distribute wages, or pay taxes. Therefore, accepting Bitcoin is not practical. If financial institutions provide them with Bitcoin settlement services, they will be punished under the Anti-Money Laundering Law." You Yunting said. (Yicai Global)