5 ms·
Here's my wild speculation on why Musk did this (and why it's brilliant) He knows there is a large and growing community of Bitcoin speculators and enthusiasts
by danhak 6y ago
Here's my wild speculation on why Musk did this (and why it's brilliant)
He knows there is a large and growing community of Bitcoin speculators and enthusiasts out there. By "endorsing" Bitcoin in this way, he not only moved the market--further enriching these folks--but also signaled that he is an ally to them, significantly boosting positive sentiment toward him and increasing the likelihood that they will purchase a Tesla as their next vehicle.
In one fell swoop, he not only drove demand for his product, but also made it more affordable to his target market without lowering its cost.
- synaesthesisx 6y agoI don't think it's just a simple stunt. Apparently, the onboard computer on the latest Teslas is capable of mining BTC profitably at the current prices (allegedly). It would be amusing to have cars mine when idle/plugged in, or better yet have any unsold inventory mining 24/7 (since electricity can be written off as operational expenses). I wouldn't put it past Elon.
- villasv 6y agoIf by amusing you mean reducing battery life / beefing my electricity bill while giving the impression of “generating” money. Miss me with this new kind of planned obsolescence.
- garaetjjte 6y agoMining BTC is not profitable without dedicated ASICs. Other coins might be possible, but I doubt car hardware would have significant hashrate.
- 867-5309 6y agoit is profitable 1. at scale and 2. when you are not paying for the electricity. Tesla covers both of these
- desertrider12 6y ago> the onboard computer on the latest Teslas is capable of mining BTC profitably I would be interested to learn more about that. I thought the bulk of the Autopilot compute power is in dense neural network inference which wouldn't be any good for SHA hashing.
- reitzensteinm 6y agoProbably referring to the gaming PC in the Plaid.
- twelve40 6y agowhat does potential Tesla-based mining have to do with plowing a ton of cash into Bitcoin right now?
- nexthash 6y agoDo you seriously think that Bitcoin enthusiasts are Elon Musk's target market? Bitcoin is useless and inflexible as a currency, and the massive risk definitely won't help bring Tesla any profit. Sounds more like market moving on his part designed to get publicity. Musk is known for making controversial decisions to increase his notoriety.
- danhak 6y agoThere is close to $1 Trillion worth of bitcoin out there, largely held by futurist / technology enthusiast types. If that's not his target market then who is?
- whycombagator 6y agoWell if I just made multiples of what a Tesla costs thanks to this move perhaps I practice some positive reinforcement & purchase a Tesla? Adding support for BTC payments just facilitates the transaction even more so
- new_realist 6y agoOr he is simply front-running the trades he asked Tesla to make after he loaded up, personally.