layout: cp
title: "Proposal to Add Monero (XMR) as a Payment Option on the Tesla Website"
author: Natoshi Sakamoto
date: February 9, 2021
amount: 890
milestones:
- name: Payment for Monero public payment integration promise
funds: 890
done:
status: unfinished
payouts:
- date: 9 March 2021
amount: 890 (refund)Important donor and participant note: See the bottom of the document. This proposal is contingent on several factors and will be refunded if certain criteria are not met.
Press contact: press@getmonero.org
Proposal to Add Monero (XMR) as a Payment Option on the Tesla Website
What: Tesla recently announced that they may accept Bitcoin payment for Tesla cars at some point in the future. This proposal is to add Monero as a payment option for a new Tesla, along-side Bitcoin, by asking Elon Musk to accept payment in Monero for three new Tesla Model 3 vehicles (maximum expenditure by the Monero community of $50,000 USD equivalent per Tesla, $150,000 USD equivalent total). If he agrees, we purchase the vehicles using Monero through the front end of the Tesla website or Tesla store point of sale system, or Tesla accepts our Monero in some other way such as a special payment processing run. Vehicles will then be donated to our favorite Charities!
Why: Most existing cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, have transparent blockchains, meaning that transactions are openly traceable by anyone in the world and subject to mass surveillance by foreign governments and marketing agencies. Every Monero transaction preserves the privacy of its user because it obfuscates sending and receiving addresses as well as transacted amounts. Monero is unique among any major cryptocurrency in providing these basic levels of user protections.
Monero is a truly decentralized project entirely developed by a grassroot community of volunteers - to date, more than 650 individuals have contributed to its source code. All contributors spend time and efforts altruistically, largely unpaid except for a few specific tasks supported by a dedicated crowdfunding platform. Similar to Bitcoin (and unlike most projects in the cryptospace...), there is no premine, no dev tax, no ICO, no venture capital, no nothing. Monero is a pure open source project whose community is aligned first and foremost toward its ideals of privacy & freedom.
With the recent announcement that Bitcoin may be accepted for Tesla purchases, members of the Monero community came up with the idea that it would be preferable to have Monero along-side Bitcoin as a payment option when purchasing a Tesla, given its privacy preserving properties. While some people rightfully want to brag about their brand new Tesla, this should be the owner’s choice, not revealed with an accidental purchase of coffee using the same Bitcoin wallet. You wouldn’t want your server at a restaurant to know the entire balance in your wallet when you pay would you? Why should your purchase of a car broadcast to the world all of the information that is leaked in a Bitcoin transaction? Plus, the effect of showing up to a party in a brand new Tesla is diminished somewhat if all your friends already knew the moment you bought it because they were able to see the transaction on the Bitcoin blockchain!
Who: This proposal encourages the Monero community to come together and to raise the funds needed, in Monero, to purchase three Tesla Model 3 vehicles and donate them to three worthy 501(c)(3) charities (or corresponding status for non-profits outside the US)! To be considered one of the Community favorite charities, the words “Monero” and the hashtag #Tesla4XMR should be in all Tweets.
When: Lets raise these funds now and provide an opportunity for Tesla to support freedom and privacy while simultaneously providing benefit to our favorite charitable causes!
How: We propose to ask Elon Musk to accept Monero as a payment option for three new Tesla Model 3 vehicles through Twitter. We are relying on the power of the Monero community (and the generosity of Elon and others - including wonderful charities) to make this happen. Please help us share this proposal and encourage Elon to promote essential cryptocurrency technology!
501(c)(3) charities (or corresponding status for non-profits outside the US) who are interested should express via social media (ideally Twitter) how the donation of a Tesla Model 3 will benefit them, as well as some message on the importance of privacy. Then, charities should encourage engagement on their end to raise awareness. The hashtag #Telsa4XMR and the word “Monero” should be used on all Tweets or social media mentions!
In order to be considered one of our FAVORITE charities, a charity should:
- Tweet about what privacy means to them, and why it is important!
- Tweet about situations in which lack of privacy would be a bad thing! Be creative!
- Tweet about how YOU enjoy privacy in your own life (ie: curtains on the window are closed at night, cellphone has a password on it, cash is kept in your wallet or purse and not carried around in your hand for all to see).
- Tweet other funny or serious hypotheticals related to privacy, or lack of privacy - we can’t stress this enough - get creative!
- Tweet about how receiving a donated Tesla Model 3 would benefit the charity.
- Tweet about how a Tesla Model 3 would be used by the charity.
All Tweets should include the word “Monero” AND the hashtag #Tesla4XMR.
The more Tweets and Retweets, the better, we need to get Elon’s attention to make this dream a reality! The Monero Community loves organizations who have an awareness of the importance of financial privacy, personal privacy, privacy of thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression.
We will be looking for charity engagement in this initiative, and to get Elon’s attention for twenty one days beginning 12:00 noon US Central time on the day the proposal is funded. That is, after 21 days from this time has elapsed, and if the success criteria below have been met, the Monero Community will select our three favorite charities to receive Teslas. The venue in which the three favorite charities will be evaluated and selected is TBA.
Note that selected charities will not receive a donated Tesla Model 3 if the success criteria below are not met. The goal is to actually pay Tesla, for Teslas, using Monero! For that, we need to get Tesla to accept Monero as a payment option!
Define Success: The decision to pay out the Monero to Tesla for the three Tesla Model 3 vehicles will depend on two things occuring. A) Acknowledgement from Elon within twenty one days of a fully funded proposal, that Monero will be added or accepted for the purchase of three Model 3 vehicles, and B) The actual acceptance of the Monero for the vehicle purchases within six months of the date of a fully funded proposal.
More specifically, pay out of the funds to Tesla will occur if three of our favorite charities have been selected to receive a Tesla AND: