Many large companies have launched plans or explored entering the Web3 world. One of the largest clothing companies credits an interest in Bitcoin with Elon Musk as inspiration for the Web3 ambitions.
What happened: Electric car giant Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shocked many when it announced it was allowing purchases with leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin (NASDAQ:BTC) in 2021. The company also bought Bitcoin itself and added the apex crypto to its balance sheet that same year.
Tesla would hold Bitcoin and sell it in chunks, including one initial sale right away to demonstrate liquidity, the company said. Tesla announced in 2022 that it had sold 75% of Bitcoin. The company ended the most recent fourth quarter with $184 million in digital assets on its balance sheet, which could consist of Bitcoin and Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE).
While Tesla stopped accepting Bitcoin as a payment option for its vehicles, the company has made most of its items available for purchase with Dogecoin, showing a level of cryptocurrency acceptance.
Tesla was one of the first major companies to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet and accept the cryptocurrency as a payment option, which may have inspired other companies.
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The move by Tesla also inspired one company to become more involved in Web3.
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Tesla opened the door: Clothing company Adidas (OTC:ADDYY) credits Tesla accepting Bitcoin as the gateway moment for the company and its ambitions in the Web3 world.
Adidas Web3 leader Erika Wykes-Sneyd told Decrypt that Tesla’s acceptance of Bitcoin helped Adidas “start the conversation” about what the company could do with blockchain with crypto advocates.
“Elon Musk helped open that door for us, just a little bit, so we could capture people’s imagination internally,” Wykes-Sneyd told Decrypt. “We used it as a slipstream.”
The Adidas boss said the company wanted to avoid being just a company that accepts cryptocurrency and instead get more involved.
“I think those of us who knew were like, ‘Well, I don’t think just accepting crypto is what it means to get into this space.’
Adidas has launched its own NFT collection called Into the metaverse, collaborated with Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) and The Sandbox.
Adidas also bought Bored Ape Yacht Club #8774, now known as Indigo Herz, for the 46th Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) Sep 17, 2021 The Bored Ape was featured in a World Cup trailer from Adidas.
Wykes-Sneyd said Adidas went through a lot of planning to put forward a Web3 strategy that took nine to 10 months.
“When we went to market, everybody, for the most part, was like, ‘Wow, Adidas is early,’ and we were, but we actually thought about this and planned it for 10 months before.”
Wykes-Sneyd said Adidas’ future Web3 plans could include token-gated sneaker drops and wears Apecoin (CRYPTO: APE) as a payment option.
Read next: Did Tesla make money on its $1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase?
