Balenciaga to Accept Crypto Payments
The refined French fashion house Balenciaga is the latest brand to make a foray into the crypto industry despite the bear market.
According to reports, the brand, which has once dressed the late actress Grace Kelly and the First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Kennedy, is looking to accept crypto payments starting in June.
Focusing on Bitcoin and Ethereum as crypto payment options, the fashion house will begin accepting the two major cryptocurrencies at its flagship stores including on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and on Madison Avenue in New York. It will also be possible to pay with crypto online.
While the U.S. will be the starting point of the company’s venture into the crypto-verse, it is making it clear that with time it will enter more markets. It is also looking to add more crypto payment options later this year.
The company also clarified that the market fluctuations are of no grand importance to it, noting that “Balenciaga is thinking long-term about crypto, and fluctuations in currency value are nothing new.”
Balenciaga’s stance echoes that of the Swiss luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer, which has recently waded into the crypto world. The company is looking to accept twelve cryptocurrencies and five stablecoins, emphasizing that it has been intrigued by Bitcoin since its birth. The market’s price swings are, therefore, of no major concern.
Balenciaga’s decision to enable cryptocurrency payments follows a similar decision by another top-tier fashion house like Gucci, which not long ago announced that it will be accepting 10 cryptocurrencies later this year, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and Bitcoin Cash.
Meanwhile, brands like Nike, Dolce & Gabbana, and Burberry are offering non-fungible token collections to customers seeking an immersive metaverse experience.
In 2021, for example, Dolce & Gabbana announced that it had sold at auction a nine-piece collection of digital non fungible tokens, alongside some actual couture for a total of 1,885.719 ETH.
We should be in sync with modern icons,said Balenciaga’s CEO Cédric Charbit in a comment for the Wall Street Journal.
Tag Heuer would adopt what promises to be a globally integrated technology in the near future despite the fluctuations – one that will deeply transform our industry and beyond…This new crypto payment feature is just the beginning of many exciting projects for Tag Heuer in the Web3 universes,said Tag Heuer’s CEO Frédéric Arnault.
