Elon Musk has tweeted that Tesla vehicles can now be purchased using bitcoin, increasing the company’s sizeable cryptocurrency holdings.

• The Tesla CEO said via Twitter Wednesday that bitcoin paid to the company will stay as bitcoin and not be converted into fiat.
• This option will also be made available outside the U.S. later this year.
• Musk added that Tesla operates bitcoin nodes directly using internal and open-source software.

• The move will see Tesla add to its already sizeable bitcoin holdings which Musk revealed Feb. 8. At the time, Tesla's trove was valued at $1.5 billion; it's worth quite a bit more now.
• Musk's tweet disclosing the purchase propelled bitcoin to a then all-time-high of $44,801.
• The news today will be welcome for bitcoin investors who have seen the world's most valuable crypto tread water around the $55,000 mark in recent days.
• Musk's tweet has already given a lift to the price of bitcoin, which is currently at $56,293.57, up 3.45% in the last 24 hours.

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