Elon Musk’s move towards cryptocurrency has created a buzz as many car dealers claim that they were way ahead than the Tesla owner, while some said that it looks like a PR stunt.
Musk had bought Dogecoin - a cryptocurrency - for his newborn, further extending his support to digital currencies. "Bought some dogecoin for lil X, so he can be a toddler hodler," said the Tesla and SpaceX CEO on Twitter.
The car dealers said accepting cryptocurrency is a good marketing and branding tool, but it is still a niche business and it also becomes a risk for them as they are not tech-savvy.
A Georgia car dealer Christopher Basha said he was way ahead of Musk as he learned about cryptocurrency from a roommate who mined bitcoin. “Someone bought a pizza with bitcoin," he said. "Buying a car with bitcoin didn't seem that crazy."
Meanwhile, another dealer from California, Pietro Frigerio said when bitcoin prices surged in 2017, his store sold 20 cars in a month. "More and more, Bitcoin is becoming a common payment form," Lamborghini said in a statement to Reuters, adding that its dealers are free to decide payment methods.
Peter Saddington, the founder of cryptocurrency startup Emrit, bought a Lamborghini Huracan in 2017 using bitcoin that he bought in 2011 for $115 in a bid to bring attention to his company and cryptocurrency.
"(Tesla's move) is certainly a PR stunt," he told Reuters. "But Elon is very progressive in his thinking, so it makes sense to me that he would offer a future currency for his company."
