Buy your electric car with crypto

Electric vehicle company Tesla now accepts cryptocurrency as a form of payment. If you have enough bitcoin — and reside in America, as this payment method will only be available to customers outside the US later this year — you are eligible to buy a Tesla. Chief executive Elon Musk confirmed the news on Twitter shortly after the company disclosed its $105-billion investment in bitcoin in February. After its announcement, Tesla’s shares dropped by more than 4%, while bitcoin showed an upward curve. As a quintessential tech bro, Musk uses his tools to back ventures he finds interesting. But has he considered the environmental impact of mining bitcoin, with ever more advanced computers chomping through vast amounts of energy to mine the world’s finite number of 21-million bitcoin? The move could offset the benefits of his electric vehicles.