Italian high-end fashion brand Gucci has announced that it will begin accepting cryptocurrency payments at five of its U.S. stores by the end of this month, and plans to expand the service to all 111 of its stores in North America.
According to Vogue Business, Gucci will accept 12 cryptocurrencies, including BTC, BCH, ETH, WBTC, LTC, SHIB, DOGE and five USD stablecoins.
At the pilot stores in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta and Las Vegas, customers who pay with cryptocurrency in-store will receive an email with a QR code to pay through their digital asset wallet. Staff have already begun training and education on cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and Web3 in preparation for the launch.
Gucci has been ramping up Web3 adoption, launching two NFT collections in 2022 - the "SUPERGUCCI" collection in February in partnership with toy brand SUPERPLASTIC, and March for existing blue-chip NFT projects such as Bored Apes, Pudgy Penguins and "Gucci Grail" collection by the owner of World of Women.
The company's first NFT is a four-minute short film titled Aria, inspired by the company's clothing line of the same name, which sold for $25,000 in June 2021 at an online auction hosted by Christie's. sold.
Gucci expanded further into the Web3 space in February by purchasing the virtual land in The Sandbox, developing a virtual retail experience store to echo its Vault e-store.
Gucci Vault is an online concept store that represents "Gucci's presence in the metaverse".
Cryptocurrency is a luxury
Premium brands are jumping into the cryptocurrency and Web3 space. In March, fashion label Off-white began accepting six cryptocurrencies as payment methods at its flagship stores in Paris, Milan, and London.
Off-white is majority owned by LVMH, which has a share of Web3 adoption and has released NFTs under the brands Hennessy, Bulgari and Louis Vuitton in the past.
Luxury watch brand Hublot, owned by LVMH, has launched a limited-edition collection that can only be purchased with Bitcoin. Most recently, the brand partnered with cold wallet provider Ledger to launch a limited-edition watch and the Ledger Nano X in February.
Watch brands Frank Muller, Norgain, and fashion brand Phillip Plein have all accepted cryptocurrencies, and even car dealers and automakers have begun accepting digital assets as payment for high-end vehicles.
Luxury fitness company Equinox Group began accepting cryptocurrency payments in New York City on May 3, with annual memberships starting at less than 1.4 ETH (about $4,044).
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