Bitcoin News and Finance
Elon Musk’s Tesla Faces Scrutiny Over Potential Conflict of Interest in $1.5 Billion Bitcoin Purchase Skip to main content

Elon Musk’s Tesla Faces Scrutiny Over Potential Conflict of Interest in $1.5 Billion Bitcoin Purchase

Elon Musk's Tesla Faces Scrutiny Over Potential Conflict of Interest in $1.5 Billion Bitcoin Purchase

Tesla is facing more scrutiny over its $1.5 billion dollar bitcoin purchase. A Tesla board member who reportedly approved the company’s bitcoin buy deal is a cryptocurrency investor who also sits on the boards of two major crypto firms.

Experts Question Conflict of Interest in Tesla’s Bitcoin Purchase

Tesla is further under scrutiny over its bitcoin purchase as experts now question whether there is a conflict of interest surrounding a director who approved the company’s big bitcoin purchase, the Telegraph reported Tuesday. Tesla recently revealed that it bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin in January and plans to accept the cryptocurrency as a form of payment for its products in the near future.

The conflict of interest question surfaced when it emerged that a Tesla director who approved the company’s bitcoin buy is also a crypto investor with ties to two crypto firms, the publication described. Antonio Gracias is listed on the Tesla website as an independent director and a member of the audit committee that signed off Tesla’s bitcoin deal. A long-time friend of Musk, he invested in Tesla in 2005 and has been on its board since 2007.

Gracias is also the founder, CEO, and chief investment officer of investment firm Valor Equity Partners, which has invested in two crypto companies. The first company is crypto custody service provider Bitgo and the other is crypto derivatives trading platform Erisx. He also sits on their boards. The publication added that Gracias was previously an investor in another crypto firm, the tokenization platform Harbor, which Bitgo acquired last year. The news outlet conveyed:

Corporate governance experts said the shared roles created a potential conflict of interest that should mean him recusing himself.

Charles Elson, a finance professor at the University of Delaware, said: “Good prudence would have suggested a recusal in those circumstances.”

Bill Klepper, a professor of management at Columbia Business School, explained: “If there’s any direct conflict or appearance of that, you better stay arm’s length away from it. The right thing to have done would be to get the advice of legal counsel. We don’t know if he’s done that or not.” He further opined:

We have to find out whether or not he is acting in good faith. It’s in the lack of transparency that you find people begin to question your ethics.

Gracias also sits on the board of Musk’s rocket company, Spacex, the news outlet added, noting that he is stepping down from Tesla this year.

Recently, lawyers warned that Tesla CEO Elon Musk could be probed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the electric car company’s bitcoin purchase. Meanwhile, the value of Tesla’s bitcoin stash has appreciated substantially as the price of BTC surged from around the $30K to $40K level in January to $52,408 at the time of writing.

Do you think there was a conflict of interest over Tesla’s bitcoin buy? Let us know in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory