Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and its CEO Elon Musk seemingly know well how to remain in the news all the time. The company shocked crypto critics earlier today by disclosing its big US$1.5 billion Bitcoin investment. Investors showed confidence in Musk’s decision to invest in crypto coin as Tesla stock rose by nearly 2% for the day after the news came out.
The news of the electric carmaker’s big investment in the cryptocurrency also drove massive gains in Bitcoin price as it touched its all-time high of US$44,899 this morning. In fact, most cryptocurrency exchanges were apparently not prepared to witness a sudden surge in trading volume, which is why many crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, Gemini, Binance, experienced technical difficulties today. This happened as a large number of traders rushed to buy cryptocurrencies — resulting in a sudden spike in volume.
Staying away from Bitcoin’s extreme volatility
But even after all this, I don’t want to bet on any cryptocurrency with my hard-earned money. The cryptocurrency market’s huge volatility is enough to wipe out all my savings and investment portfolio within a few hours.
If you think you have deep pockets to play the crypto game safely, look back at history. A big number of retail investors lost billions of dollars during the 2018 Bitcoin crash. So, I would rather buy a great EV stock like Tesla or maybe BlackBerry (TSX: BB)(NYSE: BB) in 2021 to play safe and still get handsome returns on my investments.
Tesla’s continued success
Tesla continues to rule the electric vehicle market as its revenue growth accelerated to 28.3% in 2020 compared to 14.5% in the previous year. This growth, along with its six consecutive quarters of profitability, drove its stock up by 743% last year. Tesla sold nearly half a million cars last year, which was one key reason for solid growth in overall revenue. Wall Street expects its revenue growth to accelerate further to 53% year over year in 2021.
But if you look closely, there is more to Tesla’s recent success. The company has proved to be a trendsetter in the auto industry by encouraging many large carmakers to focus on electric and autonomous vehicle development.
The EV market is growing exponentially
Tesla’s recent success not only has attracted automakers’ attention towards EVs, but tech companies like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are also readying to enter the market. Last month, a CNBC report pointed that Apple could soon finalize a deal with Hyundai-Kia to make Apple-branded electric and autonomous vehicles. While Hyundai and Kia today rejected the claims of their talks with Apple, the iPhone maker’s intentions to enter the EV and autonomous car market remain well-known.
In the last few years, Apple has hired many auto industry pioneers and experts — including from Tesla — to work on its car project. AAPL’s intentions to enter the EV market — despite its immense success in the tech industry — showcase the immense growth potential of the electric car market.
BlackBerry stock
BlackBerry — the Canadian enterprise software developer — has been consistently raising its stakes lately in the EV industry. Many large automakers across the world already use the company’s QNX operating system. BB recently started working on an integrated vehicle data platform in partnership with Amazon Web services. This platform would help the company to expand its offerings to electric and autonomous vehicle makers in the future.
BlackBerry also doesn’t want to miss big opportunities in the Chinese market. That’s why it is preparing to raise its bets in China by expanding its partnership with Chinese tech giant Baidu. The partnership would allow BB’s OS to be used in mass-produced EVs in China.
Foolish takeaway
These all-recent developments make BlackBerry stock a much better investment option for retail investors like me than risking my money in the highly volatile cryptocurrency market.
