Gucci, the iconic fashion house, will start accepting cryptocurrencies in certain U.S. outlets later this month, with plans to expand the service to additional North American locations this summer.
According to Vogue Business, in-store purchases will be performed using a QR code that consumers will get through email and scan with their crypto wallet. The businesses will take Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu, among other digital currencies.
Wooster Street in New York, Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, Miami Design District, Phipps Plaza in Atlanta, and The Shops at Crystals in Las Vegas are among the first to accept cryptocurrency.
Other high-end businesses, including Off-White, have already begun to take cryptocurrency.
Spend your crypto in Gucci style
Gucci’s latest step into Web3 is accepting bitcoin payments in-store. Gucci made its metaverse debut earlier this year when it paid an unknown sum for virtual land in the decentralized blockchain game The Sandbox, which it intends to use to create a virtual “Gucci Vault” for Gucci-themed NFTs.
The fashion icon is one of several well-known fashion and clothing brands that have entered Web3 to assert a position in the digital realm.
Dolce & Gabbana, Adidas, Nike, Vans, and Balenciaga are among the brands that have joined Gucci in this new world. These firms will also face off against crypto-native fashion houses like Digitalax, Blanksoles, DRESSX, and Red DAO, which have already established online communities around their brands.
The brand said it would give bitcoin and NFT education and training to its employees in advance of the program’s debut.
Gucci’s president and CEO, Marco Bizzarri, tells Vogue Business, “Our team is constantly eager to adopt new technologies when they can create a better experience for our clients.”
“Now that we have the ability to integrate cryptocurrencies into our payment system, it is a logical progression for those clients who want this choice.”
A one-of-a-kind art film sold for $25,000 in June makes it the first premium company to release an NFT. In addition to its Sandbox investment, it has published two more NFT projects and launched a Discord channel since then.