Tesla faces a closer look at its $ 1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase. A Tesla board member who reportedly approved the company’s bitcoin sales agreement is a cryptocurrency investor who also sits on the boards of two major crypto firms.
Experts question conflict of interest when buying Tesla’s Bitcoin
Tesla is under further scrutiny of its Bitcoin purchase as experts now question whether there is a conflict of interest between a director who approved the company’s major Bitcoin purchase, the Telegraph reported Tuesday. Tesla recently announced that it purchased $ 1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in January and plans to accept the cryptocurrency as payment for its products in the near future.
The conflict of interest question emerged when it was revealed that a Tesla director who approved the company’s Bitcoin purchase is also a crypto investor with ties to two crypto companies, as described in the release. Antonio Gracias is listed on the Tesla website as the independent director and member of the audit committee that signed Tesla’s Bitcoin deal. A longtime friend of Musk, he invested in Tesla in 2005 and has been on the board since 2007.
Gracias is also the founder, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Valor Equity Partners, an investment firm that has invested in two crypto companies. The first company is the crypto custody service provider Bitgo and the other is the trading platform for crypto derivatives Erisx. He’s also sitting on their boards. The publication added that Gracias was previously an investor in another crypto firm, the Harbor tokenization platform, which Bitgo acquired last year. The news agency transmitted:
Corporate governance experts said the shared roles created a potential conflict of interest that should mean he is reusing himself.
Charles Elson, a finance professor at the University of Delaware, said, “Good caution would have suggested a refusal in these circumstances.”
Bill Klepper, Professor of Management at Columbia Business School, stated, “If there is a direct conflict or a direct semblance of it, you’d better stay away from it. The right thing to do would be to seek advice from a lawyer. We don’t know if he did that or not. “He continued:
We need to find out whether he is acting in good faith or not. In the lack of transparency, you find that people are starting to question your ethics.
Gracias also sits on the board of directors of Musk’s rocket company Spacex, the news agency added, noting that he is stepping down from Tesla this year.
Recently, attorneys warned that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, could be investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the electric car company’s Bitcoin purchase. Meanwhile, the value of Tesla’s Bitcoin stash has improved significantly as the price of BTC rose from around $ 30,000 to $ 40,000 in January to $ 52,408 at the time of writing.
Do you think there was a conflict of interest over Tesla’s Bitcoin purchase? Let us know in the comments below.
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