Alternative Investments/Digital: Corporates Weigh Putting Bitcoin On Their Balance Sheets

To follow Tesla or not…that is the question.
Speculation is rife on whether other corporates would follow the trend set by companies such as Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), and Square (NYSE: SQ) that invested in bitcoin. Apart from putting $1.5 billion of bitcoin on its balance sheet, Tesla also said it would soon accept bitcoin in payment for its electric vehicles.
We have views from GM (NYSE: GM) and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR).
GM on Tesla’s BTC moves
GM CEO Mary Barra was unequivocal that the automaker had no intention of investing in BTC as Tesla did. “We don’t have any plans to invest in bitcoin, so full-stop there,” she said in response to a question from Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call Wednesday. “This is something we’ll monitor and we’ll evaluate. If there’s strong customer demand for it in the future, there’s nothing that precludes us from doing that.” (CNBC)
Regarding accepting bitcoin as a tender for vehicle sales, Barra said a decision would depend on customer demand. Further, it would have to work out the modalities with its franchised dealership network.
Meanwhile, Twitter CFO Ned Segal told CNBC on Wednesday that the company was weighing whether to add bitcoin to its company reserves like Tesla. It was also mulling its course of action in case either employees or vendors requested their dues in bitcoin. (CoinDesk)
“We have done a lot of the upfront thinking to consider how we might pay employees should they ask to be paid in bitcoin, how we might pay a vendor if they asked to be paid in bitcoin and whether we need to have bitcoin on our balance sheet,” Segal said.
Tesla’s announcement Monday of its bitcoin investment sparked a massive rally in the crypto.
Related Story: Tesla Converts $1.5B Of Surplus Cash To Bitcoin

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