Bitcoin (BTC) declined on Thursday, as the rally recorded yesterday when Elon Musk announced that the company would start accepting payment in the digital currency was shortlived.
The digital currency was trading around $52,657.04 as of 12.36 PM East Africa Time. Slipping 6.72% bitcoin’s 24-hour range: ?$56,450.51- $52,657.04
Tesla Opens Bitcoin Option For its Customers
On Wednesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the electric vehicle maker plans to now accept bitcoin as a payment option and that it won’t convert any receipts of the cryptocurrency back into U.S. dollars.
Elon Musk took to Twitter to announce the news and said, people in the US can now buy Tesla cars via BTC payment directly on its website, while Musk promised the payment options for the rest of the world would be opened later this year.
As a result, the market jumped with the BTC’s price briefly shooting above $57,000, compared with the prior day’s $54,400. However, the episode which analyst refer to as ‘the Elon Candle’ was shortlived.
The direct cryptocurrency payment option comes just a month after the company made a $1.5 billion investment in the digital currency.
Tesla’s decision to hold onto its BTC signifies the digital currency’s growing stature as a unit of exchange and a legal tender.
Fidelity Applies To Launch Bitcoin ETF
Fidelity has applied to launch an exchange-traded fund to track the performance of BTC, the latest move on Wall Street to embrace the digital currency.
Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust will hold the largest cryptocurrency and value its shares based on prices from major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase and Bitstamp, according to a preliminary filing here to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The digital assets ecosystem has grown significantly in recent years, creating an even more robust marketplace for investors and accelerating demand among institutions. An increasingly wide range of investors seeking access to bitcoin has underscored the need for a more diversified set of products offering exposure to digital assets,” Fidelity in an emailed statement.
