The Bitcoin logo appears on the display screen of a crypto currency ATM at the Smoker's Choice store, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, in Salem, N.H. After a wild week in which Bitcoin soared to new heights, Bitcoin is crossing the $50,000 mark. Bitcoin rallied last week as more companies signaled the volatile digital currency could eventually gain widespread acceptance as a means of payment for goods and services. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The Associated Press
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) - After a wild week in which Bitcoin soared to new heights, Bitcoin crossed the $50,000 mark early Tuesday.
Bitcoin rallied throughout the as more companies signaled the volatile digital currency could eventually gain widespread acceptance as a means of payment for goods and services. Bitcoin has been mostly seen as a store of value, like gold, with very few places to spend it.
Then, last Monday, Elon Musk's electric car company, Tesla, said it had bought $1.5 billion of Bitcoin as part of a new investment strategy and would soon be accepting it as form of payment for its high-end cars.
It remains unclear how many major companies will follow Tesla's lead. Analysts predict a slow evolution toward widespread usage of bitcoins to pay for goods and services.
FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2020, file photo, SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award, in Berlin. Tesla says it has invested more than $1 billion in Bitcoin and will accept the digital currency as payment for its electric vehicles. In a regulatory filing Monday, Feb. 8, 2021, Musk's electric vehicle company said its board approved of the $1.5 billion investment and potentially more in the future. (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP, File)
The Associated Press