Photo = REUTERS
While Tesla, an American electric car company, has announced that it will accept bitcoin payments when purchasing its electric cars, attention is focused on the Bitcoin payment method that Tesla will adopt in the future. Bitcoin, which had been raising the ransom, broke the 50 million won wall with its wings on the news of Tesla investment.
According to Bithumb, a domestic cryptocurrency exchange on the 9th, as of 4:30 pm on the day, bitcoin was traded at around 50.7 million won. It surpassed 40 million won on the 7th of last month, soaring about 10 million won in a month, and the new highest price ever was written.
Bitcoin’s price soared because Tesla reported a $1.5 billion (about 1.67 trillion won) purchase plan in the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announcement. Tesla has also announced that it will be able to purchase its vehicles with bitcoin in the future.
Bitcoin has already seen a sharp jump in price as money that couldn’t find a place to go in a low interest rate is rushing to the asset market, including virtual currency. It has emerged as an investment destination that diversifies the risk of inflation and the weakening of the dollar. Money, which can’t find a place to go in a low interest rate situation, is rushing to the asset market, including cryptocurrency. It has also emerged as an investment destination to diversify the risk of inflation and a weak dollar.
Accordingly, investors are drawing attention to the Bitcoin payment method that Tesla will introduce. In this regard, Reuters cited cryptocurrency experts and reported that Tesla has two possibilities, such as allowing consumers to pay Bitcoin through a third-party intermediary or introducing its own payment system.
First of all, the brokerage method is expected to be carried out by a process where consumers take out bitcoins from their electronic wallets, convert them to dollars at a third-party payment institution, and then buy Tesla cars. AT&T and Microsoft are already allowing bitcoin payments with the broker’BitPay’ in the middle.
There are also observations that Tesla will create its own bitcoin payment system without intermediaries. Elon Musk Tesla’s CEO, who claims to be a’virtual asset advocate’, has technical expertise, so he can go a path no one has ever been.
However, the problem lies in the volatility of the value of Bitcoin itself. When looking at the price fluctuation of Bitcoin, it is difficult to find the most important value stability in order to act as a medium of exchange. Most are accepting Bitcoin as an investment product.
Rather than Mason, CEO of TokenSoft, a cryptocurrency software company, he said, “Based on your own experience, we do not recommend paying with bitcoin when buying a Tesla car.” The novelty of living will soon disappear.”
Rather, in 2016, I purchased Tesla Model 3 through a bitcoin intermediary payment institution, and at that time, the price of one bitcoin was about 440,000 won ($400). However, the value of Bitcoin has soared so that interest is drawn whether it currently exceeds 5567 million won ($50,000).
Rather, the electric car was worth about 140 million won ($130,000) worth of bitcoins, but if the bitcoin was left as it was, its value is now over 15.5 billion won ($14 million). It jumped more than 100 times.
Even if Tesla establishes its own payment system, the volatility problem remains. Some observe that Tesla should introduce a system such as an exchange rate that assigns an appropriate value between the bitcoin and the dollar, and Tesla may not immediately convert the bitcoin paid for the electric vehicle payment by the customer in consideration of the volatility of bitcoin There is a view that there is.
Seongsu Bae, reporter Hankyung.com [email protected]