Gucci expands crypto payment options to ApeCoin, Euro Coin

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• Gucci is deepening its connection to the cryptocurrency economy, accepting ApeCoin and Euro Coin as payment methods via cryptocurrency processor BitPay, the brand announced via email to Retail Dive. The luxury retailer is the first merchant to begin accepting ApeCoin as payment through BitPay.
• BitPay has started supporting ApeCoin and Euro Coin, enabling customers to buy, hold, trade and spend the two digital currencies from their crypto wallets. The platform currently supports 13 other cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Shiba Inu.
• Gucci currently accepts 10 different cryptocurrencies at 70% of its own US locations, and it plans to roll out cryptocurrency acceptance at its remaining stores “by the first week of August,” according to the announcement.

Diving Insights:

The adoption of ApeCoin – the token for Bored Ape Yacht Club’s non-fungible tokens collection – comes as branding dive further into cryptocurrency and NFTs. In addition to Gucci, Balenciaga, PacSun, Tag Heuer and Hello Yoga have each started accepting cryptocurrencies.

“We added ApeCoin and Euro Coin because the customers of our luxury trading partners asked for it,” Stephen Pair, BitPay CEO, said in a statement. “They asked, and we delivered.”

Whether retailers’ experiments with the cryptocurrency industry will yield long-term gains remains to be seen. Brands and retailers like Tiffany, Lowes and american eagle has also introduced NFT collections. But while GameStop in May announced beta launch of its digital wallet for cryptocurrencies and NFTsArs Technica reported that the retailer’s NFT trading volume showed signs of slowing.

And as Gucci and other brands begin to accept cryptocurrency for payments, research suggests that few consumers are using these digital tokens for their purchases, and overall interest in the industry may be waning. ONE May report from the Federal Reserve said 3% of adults used cryptocurrency to buy or transfer money. Meanwhile, a March S&P report found that 19% of cryptocurrency users have paid for purchases with cryptocurrency. Plus, a Bank of America analysis of anonymized consumer data found that the number of active cryptocurrency users fell from more than 1 million in November 2021 to less than 500,000 in May 2022.

Although consumers can use ApeCoin at Gucci to pay for goods, the token is now at the center of a new fraud lawsuit. Decrypt reports that law firm Scott+Scott has filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that Yuga Labs, which oversees the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT project, falsely marketed Bored Ape NFTs and ApeCoin tokens that have the potential to generate future returns, but the value of tokens has fallen sharply in recent months.