{"id":106634,"date":"2021-02-10T19:17:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T19:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=106634"},"modified":"2021-02-10T19:17:10","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T19:17:10","slug":"buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/","title":{"rendered":"Buy a car with bitcoin? Some car dealers were years ahead of Musk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) &#8211; Georgia car dealer Christopher Basha was way ahead of Elon Musk in embracing bitcoin as a currency for selling vehicles.<\/p><figcaption class=\"Slideshow-description-447Md\">Slideshow <span>( 3 images )<\/span><\/figcaption><p>Basha said he learned about cryptocurrency from a roommate who mined bitcoin. \u201cSomeone bought a pizza with bitcoin,\u201d he said. \u201cBuying a car with bitcoin didn\u2019t seem that crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He began accepting bitcoin payments in 2015, but no customers were interested. \u201cI almost forgot about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, bitcoin prices surged, and one customer used the cryptocurrency to buy four Kias for a total of more than $150,000, Basha said. Bitcoin payments have been picking up since late last year, with prices rallying.<\/p>\n<p>Basha is one of a small group of auto dealers who have been accepting bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from customers well ahead of Tesla Inc\u2019s revelation that it had bought $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency and would soon accept it as a form of payment for cars.<\/p>\n<p>Dealers said accepting cryptocurrency is a good marketing and branding tool. But it is still a niche business. Price volatility and the absence of trusted banks and other financial intermediaries make bitcoin payments a risk for dealers who are not tech savvy.<\/p>\n<p>Basha, the Kia dealer, said he converts bitcoin into cash immediately upon receipt because he believes it risky for a company the size of his to hold such a volatile asset. But it does take several minutes to turn bitcoin into U.S. dollars on a payment platform, which occasionally leads to losses averaging $300 to $400 on each transaction due to price movements.<\/p>\n<p>Once, he forgot his password to send bitcoin from one account to another to make the dollar conversion after receiving payments from a customer. \u201cI was freaked out\u2026 There is no middleman who\u2019s going to come save you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pietro Frigerio, a Lamborghini dealer in Irvine, California, said when bitcoin prices surged in 2017, his store sold 20 cars in a month. But during the latest rally, he has not seen much increase in bitcoin payments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are waiting for exchange rates to go up further,\u201d said Frigerio, who also sells other premium luxury sports cars like Bugatti and McLaren.<\/p>\n<p>He said customers who bought cars with bitcoin have something in common: they are young people who have a strong belief in virtual currency.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Saddington, 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(Tesla\u2019s move) is certainty a PR stunt,\u201d he told Reuters. \u201cBut Elon is very progressive in his thinking, so it makes sense to me that he would offer a future currency for his company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/crypto-currencies-autos\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk-idUSL4N2KF17I\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) &#8211; Georgia car dealer Christopher Basha was way ahead of Elon Musk in embracing bitcoin as a currency for selling vehicles.Slideshow ( [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":106633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Buy a car with bitcoin? Some car dealers were years ahead of Musk - Fin2me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Buy a car with bitcoin? Some car dealers were years ahead of Musk - Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) &#8211; Georgia car dealer Christopher Basha was way ahead of Elon Musk in embracing bitcoin as a currency for selling vehicles.Slideshow ( [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-10T19:17:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cnewsfotor325.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/\",\"name\":\"Buy a car with bitcoin? Some car dealers were years ahead of Musk - Fin2me\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-10T19:17:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-10T19:17:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Markets\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/category\/markets\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Buy a car with bitcoin? Some car dealers were years ahead of Musk\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/\",\"name\":\"Fin2me\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a\",\"name\":\"Mark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39b72719fb75a2d3c7d7695026648602?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39b72719fb75a2d3c7d7695026648602?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Buy a car with bitcoin? Some car dealers were years ahead of Musk - Fin2me","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Buy a car with bitcoin? Some car dealers were years ahead of Musk - Fin2me","og_description":"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) &#8211; Georgia car dealer Christopher Basha was way ahead of Elon Musk in embracing bitcoin as a currency for selling vehicles.Slideshow ( [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/","og_site_name":"Fin2me","article_published_time":"2021-02-10T19:17:10+00:00","author":"Mark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cnewsfotor325.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/","url":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/","name":"Buy a car with bitcoin? Some car dealers were years ahead of Musk - Fin2me","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-02-10T19:17:10+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-10T19:17:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/buy-a-car-with-bitcoin-some-car-dealers-were-years-ahead-of-musk\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Markets","item":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/category\/markets\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Buy a car with bitcoin? Some car dealers were years ahead of Musk"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/","name":"Fin2me","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a","name":"Mark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39b72719fb75a2d3c7d7695026648602?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39b72719fb75a2d3c7d7695026648602?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106634"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}