By
Steve Muchoki
April 19th, 2024
Lamborghini Newport Beach had accepted the Bitcoin (BTC) payment, however, it turns out that it failed to HODL the crypto.
In the crypto community, we all have heard the popular story of buying a pizza with Bitcoin. However, it turns out that in the early Bitcoin days in 2013, someone bought the Tesla Model S by paying 91.4 BTC. As we can see now, the BTC holding at the current Bitcoin price is worth $4.1 million.
Back in 2013, the Lamborghini Newport Beach sold the Tesla Model S against Bitcoins. Back then, the Model S retailed for a price of $103,000 with the BTC/USD exchange rate being $1,126 per coin. The dealership’s official blog post dating back to December 4, 2013, notes: “We just sold our very first vehicle with Bitcoin as payment!” The blog post further mentions:
“That’s right, an electronic currency was used to purchase a fully electric vehicle. Lamborghini Newport Beach is proud to announce that we are fully capable of accepting Bitcoin as payment for vehicles. We are excited to be opening the door to this new currency.”
A report from CNN Business confirms that the Lamborghini Newport Beach didn’t HODL this BTC they received. Rather it seems that the dealership had apparently liquidated the BTC against cash. In another similar case from 2013, someone purchased a Toyota Prius for around 1,000 BTC.
With this, Laszlo Hanyecz, the man behind the infamous “Bitcoin Pizza,” is back in limelight. Speaking to Bloomberg, the man said that Bitcoin holders shouldn’t sell their BTC holdings.
Tesla Sparks Interest for Bitcoin (BTC) among American Corporates
Earlier this week on Monday, February 8, American automobile giant Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) announced its $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) purchase. The company invested this amount from its own Treasury to bring more flexibility and further diversify its investments. The company also said that it will start accepting Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment option against its BTC car sales.
Since Tesla’s announcement, Bitcoin surged to hitting its new all-time high of $48,000 on Tuesday, February 10. However, Bitcoin has seen a partial retracement since then. At press time, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at a price of $45,493 with a market cap of $843 billion.
Tesla’s entry into Bitcoin has sparked speculations of other big corporates joining the Bitcoin bandwagon very soon. On Wednesday, February 10, Twitter CFO Ned Segal said that his company is also considering moving part of its reserve cash in Bitcoin.