Gucci leads in crypto transactions

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ucci began accepting cryptocurrency in a few stores in the United States in May 2022. Now, approximately 70 percent of its full, directly operated stores accept the currency. The rest are not expected to be left out for long.

Gucci was the first brand to accept crypto, and this week was the first brand to accept ApeCoin. With the addition of ApeCoin, Gucci customers will have a dozen options to pay for goods with digital money; the brand now accepts BitcoinBTC
Bitcoin CashBCH
EtherETH
eum, wrapped BitcoinWBTC
LitecoinLTC
DogecoinDOGE
n, Shiba InuSHIB
and 5 USD pegged stablecoins (GUSDGUSD
USDCUSDC
USDP, DAIDAI
and BUSDBUSD
). The Italian luxury brand dipped its toe into crypto with just five stores initially, but saw itself having to expand quickly to attract luxury customers.

According to Stephen Pair, BitPay’s CEO, the platform was simply responding to demand. For example, they added ApeCoin in response to strong customer demand for the well-hyped Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, a subsidiary of Yuga Labs. Bored Ape Yacht Club is widely sought after by celebrities and other wealthy individuals, and ApeCoin will be the main token used in the Ape ecosystem according to WWD’s Adriane Lee.

ApeCoin holders can shop at BitPay merchants – which include premium brands and retailers as well as popular services like UberEats and DoorDashDASH
. They just hand in the tokens for cash with a BitPay card, exchange them or just keep them. The volatile world of crypto investing is an adventure sport unto itself and tends to be highly speculative with price values ​​constantly changing. Bitcoin and Ethereum, for example, are on the way back from a major crash in June 2022. But the fascination with blockchain-based currency persists.

As for Gucci, the assumption is that it has added these cryptocurrencies to respond to its customers. That is certainly what BitPay’s Pair suggests; he believes that demand must increase among luxury consumers. But this scenario is not a given and it is not known how many customers have actually used Bitcoin or Dogecoin. Another possibility is that Gucci’s embrace of crypto is a strategic move that will position the brand to face future initiatives. After all, Gucci has been active in digital collectibles, avatars and NFTs in the past. The brand has also explored partnerships with virtual worlds such as Roblox and Sandbox.

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RIP: Gucci is the leader in accepting cryptocurrency and is taking this position with the expectation that it will attract wealthy luxury customers. There’s a sense of adventure when using blockchain currency, and Gucci clearly wants to be at the forefront of it all with NikeNKE
and Tiffany. Undoubtedly, such actions by these leaders will bring new ideas to the rest of the industry.