3 ms·

What percent of Tesla customers are buying their cars with bitcoins? I doubt it’s more than 1 out of 100, I think it was just a publicity stunt both times, medi

by usaphp 5y ago

What percent of Tesla customers are buying their cars with bitcoins? I doubt it’s more than 1 out of 100, I think it was just a publicity stunt both times, media talked about Tesla when they started accepting them and will talk about them again when they decided to stop it.

qayxc 5y ago
It was a classic pump-and-dump if you ask me. Step 1: purchase $1.5Bn in Bitcoin Step 2: make an announcement that will likely result in a rising valuation (it briefly went up by ~20% just because Musk added #bitcoin to his bio on Twitter...) Step 3: sell 10% of your bitcoin at a profit of >$272M in Q1 Step 4: wait for the market to go up again, then proceed with Step 3 It's less risky to invest in a highly volatile, unregulated market if you have the means to somewhat steer the market just by making an announcement or have your company's figurehead add a hashtag on Twitter...
- lanstin 5y ago
  Like him or hate him, I don't think you can tar him with the "figurehead" brush.
  - qayxc 5y ago
    It's a figure of speech and meant to be completely neutral and independent of the actual person. Just like "the face of the company", e.g. Pat Gelsinger in the case of Intel or Tim Cook for Apple.
    - alisonkisk 5y ago
      "figurehead" is a word with a meaning. "Head" and "face" have different meanings.
    - CydeWeys 5y ago
      "Face of the company" and "figurehead" have different meanings. The latter is pejorative. From the dictionary: "a person who is head of a group, company, etc., in title but actually has no real authority or responsibility".
      - Normille 5y ago
        >Face of the company" and "figurehead" have different meanings. The latter is pejorative.. Figurehead is not a pejorative term. Quite the reverse.
        CydeWeys 5y ago
        Consult a dictionary: "A nominal leader or head without real power".
- bell-cot 5y ago
  If the market going up again (Step 4) is a sure thing, then Step 3 is obviously sub-optimal. If that is not a sure thing, then they've still got a potential ~$1B net loss. I am not asserting that Elan's and Tesla's motives were pure. Nor that they complied with all applicable laws, regulations, etc. But "classic pump-and-dump" is a poor and very misleading description of the events to date.
Kye 5y ago
This is probably knowable. Aren't transactions public?
bell-cot 5y ago
I think you are quite obviously correct. But this is Hacker News. Not (hypothetical handwave) Marketer News. On that (\1) site, your comment would be brutally downvoted for obviousness. ;)

by usaphp 5y ago

qayxc 5y ago

It was a classic pump-and-dump if you ask me. Step 1: purchase $1.5Bn in Bitcoin Step 2: make an announcement that will likely result in a rising valuation (it briefly went up by ~20% just because Musk added #bitcoin to his bio on Twitter...) Step 3: sell 10% of your bitcoin at a profit of >$272M in Q1 Step 4: wait for the market to go up again, then proceed with Step 3 It's less risky to invest in a highly volatile, unregulated market if you have the means to somewhat steer the market just by making an announcement or have your company's figurehead add a hashtag on Twitter...

lanstin 5y ago
Like him or hate him, I don't think you can tar him with the "figurehead" brush.
- qayxc 5y ago
  It's a figure of speech and meant to be completely neutral and independent of the actual person. Just like "the face of the company", e.g. Pat Gelsinger in the case of Intel or Tim Cook for Apple.
  - alisonkisk 5y ago
    "figurehead" is a word with a meaning. "Head" and "face" have different meanings.
  - CydeWeys 5y ago
    "Face of the company" and "figurehead" have different meanings. The latter is pejorative. From the dictionary: "a person who is head of a group, company, etc., in title but actually has no real authority or responsibility".
    - Normille 5y ago
      >Face of the company" and "figurehead" have different meanings. The latter is pejorative.. Figurehead is not a pejorative term. Quite the reverse.
      - CydeWeys 5y ago
        Consult a dictionary: "A nominal leader or head without real power".
bell-cot 5y ago
If the market going up again (Step 4) is a sure thing, then Step 3 is obviously sub-optimal. If that is not a sure thing, then they've still got a potential ~$1B net loss. I am not asserting that Elan's and Tesla's motives were pure. Nor that they complied with all applicable laws, regulations, etc. But "classic pump-and-dump" is a poor and very misleading description of the events to date.

Kye 5y ago

This is probably knowable. Aren't transactions public?

bell-cot 5y ago

I think you are quite obviously correct. But this is Hacker News. Not (hypothetical handwave) Marketer News. On that (\1) site, your comment would be brutally downvoted for obviousness. ;)