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* Puts on tinfoil hat * Considering how long it takes decisions like these to roll out is it likely that Tesla recently dropped coin based payments in part to

by munk-a 5y ago

* Puts on tinfoil hat * Considering how long it takes decisions like these to roll out is it likely that Tesla recently dropped coin based payments in part to avoid being a party to any upcoming money laundering investigations? Companies at all associated with large coin based payments have probably been in the know about this coming up for quite some time now.

mywittyname 5y ago
If not this exact thing, then probably due to some regulatory issue. As tech people, we love to complain about the bone-headed tech decisions that business leaders make. I have every reason to believe that accountants have the same complaints about leadership. It wouldn't be surprising if accountants over on Gaaper News were facepalming over this decision.
newacct583 5y ago
Seems like a stretch. For sure, the used Tesla market is hot and they are much more liquid than any other automobile you can buy. Still, all the tracking of VIN-related transactions would seem to make cars an extraordinarily bad choice of good to use in a laundering operation.
- munk-a 5y ago
  I was actually just thinking of buying a fancy Tesla being an end node for laundered money - it's fancy and flashy so I'd imagine that if you've got a fair amount of cash sitting around snapping up one of those is attractive. Also, I do agree that it seems like a stretch, that claim is entirely baseless and speculative - hence the tin foil hat prefix.
arcticbull 5y ago
IMO its more likely nobody used bitcoin to pay for teslas and they didn't think it was worth their while to deal with all the headaches.
elliekelly 5y ago
Definitely not. The compliance obligations for Tesla would be identical to someone purchasing a vehicle with cash which, AFAIK, is still an acceptable form of payment.
politician 5y ago
Telsa announced support for buying cars with Bitcoin in March and revoked support in May. In Jan-Feb, they bought ~50,000BTC for 1.5BUSD, and likely sold it all before the May announcement for nearly 100% profit. Was even one vehicle was paid for in BTC in the 60 day period where this was supposedly possible? "Pump and dump" comes to mind. [1] https://news.yahoo.com/tesla-stops-taking-bitcoin-cites-222026351.html https://news.yahoo.com/tesla-stops-taking-bitcoin-cites-2220...
- practice9 5y ago
  They didn't sell their BTC holdings (per recent Elon tweet)
  - politician 5y ago
    Interesting! I didn't see that. If that's the case, that's less scammy than it originally looked.
vineyardmike 5y ago
As others mentioned, this was just a reminder of existing laws. Its not really a new decision.

by munk-a 5y ago

mywittyname 5y ago

If not this exact thing, then probably due to some regulatory issue. As tech people, we love to complain about the bone-headed tech decisions that business leaders make. I have every reason to believe that accountants have the same complaints about leadership. It wouldn't be surprising if accountants over on Gaaper News were facepalming over this decision.

newacct583 5y ago

Seems like a stretch. For sure, the used Tesla market is hot and they are much more liquid than any other automobile you can buy. Still, all the tracking of VIN-related transactions would seem to make cars an extraordinarily bad choice of good to use in a laundering operation.

munk-a 5y ago
I was actually just thinking of buying a fancy Tesla being an end node for laundered money - it's fancy and flashy so I'd imagine that if you've got a fair amount of cash sitting around snapping up one of those is attractive. Also, I do agree that it seems like a stretch, that claim is entirely baseless and speculative - hence the tin foil hat prefix.

arcticbull 5y ago

IMO its more likely nobody used bitcoin to pay for teslas and they didn't think it was worth their while to deal with all the headaches.

elliekelly 5y ago

Definitely not. The compliance obligations for Tesla would be identical to someone purchasing a vehicle with cash which, AFAIK, is still an acceptable form of payment.

politician 5y ago

Telsa announced support for buying cars with Bitcoin in March and revoked support in May. In Jan-Feb, they bought ~50,000BTC for 1.5BUSD, and likely sold it all before the May announcement for nearly 100% profit. Was even one vehicle was paid for in BTC in the 60 day period where this was supposedly possible? "Pump and dump" comes to mind. [1] https://news.yahoo.com/tesla-stops-taking-bitcoin-cites-222026351.html https://news.yahoo.com/tesla-stops-taking-bitcoin-cites-2220...

practice9 5y ago
They didn't sell their BTC holdings (per recent Elon tweet)
- politician 5y ago
  Interesting! I didn't see that. If that's the case, that's less scammy than it originally looked.

vineyardmike 5y ago

As others mentioned, this was just a reminder of existing laws. Its not really a new decision.