Investors Take Tesla’s Move As Signal For Mainstream Financial Asset

Bitcoin has hit record highs for a second day after Elon Musk’s car company Tesla said it had bought about $1.5bn (£1.1bn) of the cryptocurrency.

Some investors took Tesla’s move as a signal that Bitcoin would become a mainstream financial asset.

Bitcoin rose above $48,000 before falling back, but it remains about 25% higher than a week ago.

However, there was some criticism about a green car firm investing in such an energy intensive currency.

According to analysis from the University of Cambridge, Bitcoin currently uses more energy than Argentina every year.

Production of the cryptocurrency, known as “Bitcoin mining”, needs energy-hungry computer hardware and ever-greater amounts of processing power.