Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin

Re:Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin by usaphp on Wednesday May 12, 2021 @06:55PM (#27136164)

What percent of Tesla customers are buying their cars with bitcoins? I doubt it’s more than 1 out of 100, I think it was just a publicity stunt both times, media talked about Tesla when they started accepting them and will talk about them again when they decided to stop it.

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Re:Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin by qayxc on Wednesday May 12, 2021 @07:43PM (#27136595)

It was a classic pump-and-dump if you ask me.

Step 1: purchase $1.5Bn in Bitcoin

Step 2: make an announcement that will likely result in a rising valuation (it briefly went up by ~20% just because Musk added #bitcoin to his bio on Twitter...)

Step 3: sell 10% of your bitcoin at a profit of >$272M in Q1

Step 4: wait for the market to go up again, then proceed with Step 3

It's less risky to invest in a highly volatile, unregulated market if you have the means to somewhat steer the market just by making an announcement or have your company's figurehead add a hashtag on Twitter...

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Re:Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin by bell-cot on Thursday May 13, 2021 @07:43AM (#27140994)

If the market going up again (Step 4) is a sure thing, then Step 3 is obviously sub-optimal. If that is not a sure thing, then they've still got a potential ~$1B net loss.

I am not asserting that Elan's and Tesla's motives were pure. Nor that they complied with all applicable laws, regulations, etc. But "classic pump-and-dump" is a poor and very misleading description of the events to date.

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Re:Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin by lanstin on Wednesday May 12, 2021 @08:24PM (#27136916)

Like him or hate him, I don't think you can tar him with the "figurehead" brush.

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Re:Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin by qayxc on Wednesday May 12, 2021 @08:32PM (#27136983)

It's a figure of speech and meant to be completely neutral and independent of the actual person. Just like "the face of the company", e.g. Pat Gelsinger in the case of Intel or Tim Cook for Apple.

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Re:Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin by CydeWeys on Wednesday May 12, 2021 @08:39PM (#27137038)

"Face of the company" and "figurehead" have different meanings. The latter is pejorative. From the dictionary: "a person who is head of a group, company, etc., in title but actually has no real authority or responsibility".

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Re:Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin by Normille on Thursday May 13, 2021 @02:52AM (#27139189)

  >Face of the company" and "figurehead" have different meanings. The latter is pejorative..

Figurehead is not a pejorative term. Quite the reverse.

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Re:Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin by CydeWeys on Monday May 17, 2021 @03:40PM (#27187458)

Consult a dictionary: "A nominal leader or head without real power".

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Re:Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin by alisonkisk on Wednesday May 12, 2021 @08:36PM (#27137013)

"figurehead" is a word with a meaning. "Head" and "face" have different meanings.

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Re:Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin by Kye on Wednesday May 12, 2021 @07:44PM (#27136598)

This is probably knowable. Aren't transactions public?

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Re:Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin by bell-cot on Thursday May 13, 2021 @07:52AM (#27141053)

I think you are quite obviously correct. But this is Hacker News. Not (hypothetical handwave) Marketer News. On that (\1) site, your comment would be brutally downvoted for obviousness. ;)

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