Mary Barra, who has served because the chief govt officer of Common Motors for seven years, stated the corporate has no quick plans to emulate Tesla’s Bitcoin buy.
Throughout GM’s This autumn 2020 earnings name at present, Barra stated the agency would monitor demand for purchasers desirous to pay for automobiles utilizing Bitcoin (BTC), however didn’t intend to make a large crypto buy like Tesla simply but.
“That is one thing we’ll monitor and we’ll consider,” she stated. “If there’s sturdy buyer demand for it sooner or later, there’s nothing that precludes us from doing that.
“We don’t have any plans to put money into Bitcoin, so full-stop there.”
A U.S. establishment, Common Motors has not at all times been on the forefront of innovation. The agency scrapped one of many earliest mass-produced electrical automobiles, the EV1, within the early 2000s. Then-CEO Rick Wagoner later called this one of many worst selections throughout his time at GM by way of the corporate picture.
Nevertheless, the corporate is just not solely disassociated from the blockchain ecosystem. GM at present holds several blockchain-based patents, together with ones to handle information from autonomous automobiles and repeatedly replace a automobile’s navigation map system. As well as, the agency, together with different auto producers, launched the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative, a bunch aiming to enhance transportation utilizing blockchain expertise.
Within the wake of Tesla’s $1.5 billion Bitcoin acquisition this week, some executives at main corporations have been straight requested if they may comply with the automobile producer’s instance and put money into crypto, or think about providing it for funds sooner or later. Although Twitter CFO Ned Segal stated the tech agency was exploring the opportunity of paying its employees in BTC, not many corporations have but prompt they may comply with go well with.
GM’s market capitalization is roughly a tenth the dimensions of Tesla’s, at $77.9 billion, though it had greater than $36 billion in cash available by Q3 2020 — sufficient to buy nearly 800,000 BTC after the value of the crypto asset dipped under $45,000 at present.
