This news comes while the crypto industry is in a bear market. The Paris-based fashion house, however, has made it clear that its crypto plans are long-term.
French luxury fashion brand Balenciaga will start accepting crypto as payment next month. Shoppers will be able to pay in Bitcoin and Ethereum online and in its flagship Madison Avenue and Rodeo Drive locations. It is unclear what payment gateway Balenciaga will use but cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are expected to be added in the future. More locations are also expected to start accepting in the future.
Balenciaga Welcomes BTC and ETH
This news comes while the crypto industry is in a bear market. The Paris-based fashion house, however, has made it clear that its crypto plans are long-term and that volatility is a fixture in the crypto space.
“Balenciaga is thinking long-term about crypto, and fluctuations in currency value are nothing new,” the company reportedly said.
The luxury fashion house in December 2021 revealed that it was launching a metaverse business unit. Little else is known about the project. Balenciaga CEO Cédric Charbit’s comment on the matter is that he considers the “metaverse as a country” and as such a business opportunity.
Other fashion brands that have shown interest in the metaverse include Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Nike, Burberry, Givenchy, JW Anderson, Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce and Gabbana and Dior.
Luxury Brands on the Crypto Bandwagon
Balenciaga joins other luxury brands in accepting digital assets as forms of payment. This month, Gucci and watchmaker TAG Heuer revealed their crypto plans. The Italian fashion house currently accepts Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu both online and in five select stores. It is reported that Gucci will accept ten cryptocurrencies in select US stores by the end of the month. Luxury Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer, in a partnership with BitPay now accepts Bitcoin and 11 other cryptocurrencies on its e-commerce platform.
Other luxury brands that accept crypto include travel agent Travala.com and watch brands Hubolt, Franck Muller and Norqain. The late Virgil Abloh’s Off-White announced in April that it had started accepting crypto (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin, XRP, Tether and USDC) across its flagship stores in Paris, Milan and London.
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