Tesla has forged a path that other corporate treasurers might follow into bitcoin. PLUS: Ether hits new record price above $1,800 as CME futures debut.
In a run reminiscent of bitcoin’s stunning ascent in early January, bitcoin’s price blew past $45,000, $46,000 and $47,000 in less than an hour late Monday, eventually topping $48,000. By early Tuesday, the largest cryptocurrency had settled down to about $45,200.
The powerful rally came after Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle company, Tesla, announced that it had bought $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin now has a market capitalization of nearly $890 billion, which would rank it ahead of all but six of the world’s largest publicly trading companies, including No. 7 Tesla at $829 billion.
For those keeping track of Tesla’s bet, it appears to be paying off so far. Based on the 18% gain in the cryptocurrency’s price over the past 24 hours, the investment has already generated a paper gain of about $270 million.
