Crypto Comes to S&P 500 Via Tesla’s $1.5 Billion Bitcoin Bet
- Tesla’s purchase means index-fund investors end up with crypto
- EV maker’s Bitcoin investment follows MicroStrategy and Square
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When Tesla Inc. joined the S&P 500, people balked. Wasn’t that a lot of volatility to embed in the world’s most important stock index? Turns out they had only part of the picture.
Founder Elon Musk opened a new chapter in the saga of his electric-vehicle maker with a disclosure Monday that Tesla invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and intends to begin accepting the cryptocurrency as a form of payment. The move comes less than two months after the company was added to the S&P 500 in the index’s largest-ever inclusion.