A recent proposal to coax Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, SpaceX, and The Boring Company, into accepting cryptocurrency payments has been making the rounds on Reddit and Twitter during the last week.

More specifically, this initiative originated with a tweet from Altpocket, asking the automaker CEO when people will have the ability to purchase a Tesla car using Bitcoin.

Altpocket is a Sweden-based social cryptocurrency portfolio tracker tool, which aims to provide cryptocurrency aficionados and novices alike with a comprehensive platform for tracking cryptocurrency investments.

At the time of writing, the initiative has received an outpouring of support both on Twitter and in its Reddit thread, which features hundreds of upvotes.

The tweet jokingly refers to Elon Musk as ”Tony Stark” in asking when customers can expect Bitcoin support for purchasing the electric automaker’s cars.

This originates with Musk often being called the ”real-life Iron Man”, and Robert Downey Jr famously turning to Musk to get into character for the first Iron Man movie.

Although it is technically possible to buy a Tesla car by sending Bitcoin to a middleman who converts the Bitcoin payment into fiat currency, this ”kind of removes the point”, according to a tweet by Altpocket.

Unlike legacy automakers, Tesla is notorious for eschewing the use of traditional third-party dealerships – instead using a direct-sale model where Tesla directly controls its stores.

This means that Tesla would have to specifically implement support for Bitcoin payments if anyone is to buy a brand new Tesla. Currently, the only way to purchase a new car from the Palo Alto-based automaker is through one of Tesla’s own stores.

Toshi Times reached out to Jonathan Svensson, CEO of Altpocket, for some exclusive comments on the reasoning behind the initiative to persuade Elon Musk into accepting Bitcoin payments.

”We need to start somewhere”, Svensson stated, referring to accelerating the adoption of Bitcoin. ”In order for Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies in general to reach more mainstream adoption, it is crucial that there are ways to actually buy things without the need to convert to fiat”.

Moreover, when asked why Altpocket took it upon themselves to suggest the implementation of Bitcoin support, Svensson noted the importance of having all parts of the Bitcoin community actively trying to assist in furthering the use and spread of the cryptocurrency.

”Bitcoin doesn’t have a marketing department, so every one of us who wants Bitcoin to succeed needs to help out”, Svensson added.

Although the initiative has currently not received any official response from either Tesla or Elon Musk, the automaker CEO is known for closely watching his Twitter feed, often implementing features in Tesla’s cars which have previously been suggested to him on Twitter.

Image Source: “Flickr”