took another large stride toward mainstream acceptance on Monday after billionaire Elon Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla Inc revealed it had bought $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency and would soon accept it as a form of payment for cars, sending the cryptocurrency shooting higher.
"If any lesser mortals had made the decision to put part of their balance sheet in Bitcoin, I don't think it would have been taken seriously," said Thomas Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York."But when the richest man in the world does it, everyone has to take a second look." Experts said they would not be surprised by a closer look from regulators given Musk's bumpy past with watchdogs.
"We expect to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis, which we may or may not liquidate upon receipt," the company said.