In brief

  • EV manufacturer Tesla has helped to identify and patch a bug on BTCPay Server.
  • Earlier this year, the Elon Musk-led company invested $1.5 billion into Bitcoin.

EV manufacturer Tesla has helped to patch a bug found on Bitcoin's open-source payment processor and wallet BTCPay Server. Tesla also helped identify the bug in the first place. 

Tesla noticed the bug and informed the BTCPay Server team in a way that was described as responsible disclosure. 

“We want to thank @teslamotors for filing a responsible disclosure, helping us with remediation, and handling the situation professionally,” the team tweeted. 

But Tesla was not the only party that informed BTCPay Server of the bug. Qaiser Abbas, described by the team as an independent web-security researcher, also received thanks for responsible vulnerability disclosure.

Tesla’s foray into Bitcoin continues

Tesla has plunged its resources into Bitcoin in recent months; in February, the company rocked the cryptocurrency world when it announced a $1.5 billion investment into Bitcoin. This month, Tesla also began accepting Bitcoin as payment for its goods and services in the US, with plans to roll it out to other countries later this year. The company plans to hold any Bitcoin it receives, rather than converting it into fiat currency.

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has become an outspoken advocate for the cryptocurrency, suggesting last month that investors held a better position if they held Bitcoin instead of cash. 

Musk’s words have already had an impact. According to a study by the Blockchain Research lab, when Musk updated his Twitter bio in January 2021 to read simply “Bitcoin,”  he caused the price of the cryptocurrency to spike almost 20%.

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