IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Electric sale: Someone used bitcoins to buy a Tesla

IMAGE:Tesla Model S electric car
A customer bought a Tesla Model S electric car like this one using Bitcoin.Mike Blake / Reuters

Add a brand new Tesla Model S to the growing list of items you can buy with bitcoins.

An auto dealership in Newport Beach, Calif., revealed Wednesday that it sold its first vehicle with the virtual currency as legal tender.

“Bitcoin, a fully encrypted and fully digital currency, has been used by a recent client of ours to pay for a Tesla Model S Performance we had in our inventory. That's right, an electronic currency was used to purchase a fully electric vehicle,” Lamborghini Newport Beach boasted in a blog post.

A Lamborghini Newport Beach official told The Daily Dot that the buyer, who was not identified, paid 91.4 bitcoins for the premium electric sedan, which was voted Motor Trend’s 2013 “Car of the Year.”

The value of the virtual currency has skyrocketed several thousand percent since the beginning of the year and recently crossed the $1,000 barrier on the Mt.Gox exchange. On Thursday, the price of a bitcoin slumped back below $1,000 after China’s central bank banned financial institutions from trading in the virtual currency.

The California dealership didn’t say when the electrifying sale took place or what the equivalent sales price in dollars was. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the four-door Model S sedan is around $90,000, though customers rarely pay the full amount.

“Lamborghini Newport Beach is proud to announce that we are fully capable of accepting Bitcoin as payment for vehicles. We are excited to be opening the door to this new currency,” the dealership said.