While the giant leap of faith, exhibited by Elon Musk's Tesla, of investing in Bitcoin seems off the table for now, embracing the cryptocurrency as a form of payment is definitely on the cards. “We don’t have any plans to invest in bitcoin, so full stop there,” Barra said when asked about GM’s interest in the cryptocurrency. “This is something we’ll monitor, and we’ll evaluate, and if there’s strong customer demand for it in the future, there’s nothing that precludes us from doing that.” - CEO of General Motors during February's 2020 Q4 earnings call.
Blockchain Attraction
This may seem to shoot down any sign of interest in BTC by the company but many analysts believe the above response to have been a rebuttal to prevent leaking any information about the inner workings taking place around blockchain. GM is actually one of the first car manufacturer's to dip their toes in integrating blockchain to their cars, and has even patented blockchain solutions for self-driving cars/security data. In 2019 they formed a partnership with Spring Labs, a blockchain start-up, in order to explore the possibilities of improving data security to prevent fraud etc., using blockchain encryption.
Breadcrumbs
In what is seen as an encouraging sign, it has been reported that the company has been in the process of getting customer feedback on the issue of BTC being used in both full and part payments. From an even more reputable source, Reuters have suggested that General Motors has joined an expanding list of major US companies looking into Bitcoin payments adoption.
Certainly nothing is concrete yet but developments have been fast moving in the industry as of late and companies would strategically capitalise on the popularity of Bitcoin to make such announcements.
What do you think? Will GM be the next major US company to join the tsunami wave of adoption?
