Bitcoin jumped to fresh record highs on Monday after U.S. electric car manufacturer Tesla announced its purchase of $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency.
The largest cryptocurrency surged at least 11% to more than $43,000, surpassing the previous peak price of $41,962 reached Jan. 8, according to CoinDesk 20 data.
Tesla, headed by Elon Musk, said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the company has invested an aggregate $1.5 billion in bitcoin and is open to acquiring and hold digital assets from time to time or long-term. Musk stirred up enthusiasm in the cryptocurrency markets recently when he added “#bitcoin” to his Twitter profile.
Tesla is the latest to join a growing list of publicly traded companies buying bitcoin for their corporate treasuries, led by Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy.