(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
Gucci will accept payments in cryptocurrencies in the US
starting this month, as the luxury industry takes tentative steps
into the digital-asset universe, Trend reports citing Gulf Business .
Customers in some stores in New York, Los Angeles, Miami,
Atlanta and Las Vegas will be able to pay using digital tokens from
the end of May, the Italian fashion house said in a statement. It
will adopt this payment option throughout its North American stores
this summer.
Gucci, owned by Kering SA, will initially accept 10
cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, bitcoin Cash, Ether, Dogecoin
and Shiba Inu.
The company joins fashion designer Philipp Plein, whose online
store started accepting crypto payments in 2021. Plein said in an
interview in late April that he expects purchases made with digital
tokens to surge this year, and that accepting cryptocurrencies had
gained his company“a lot of new clients” in the crypto
community.
Kering chief executive officer Francois-Henri Pinault in
February said Gucci and other fashion houses like Balenciaga had
innovation teams looking at opportunities related to the metaverse
and web3 – versions of the internet built around blockchain
technology, cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens.
“We're at a very precocious stage of what may happen, nothing is
certain,” Pinault said at the time. The approach taken by Kering
and its brands is more“test and learn” than“wait and see,” he
said, adding that crypto payments have“very heavy” legal and
fiscal implications.
The decision to embrace crypto payments shows how luxury brands
are trying to appeal to younger generations of consumers by
catering to emerging trends, such as creating outfits for digital
characters. But not all luxury groups are convinced. Axel Dumas,
the executive chairman of Hermes, warned earlier this year of the
risk of“hype” around the metaverse, saying it could be a way to
make“easy money.”
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies started rallying in 2020 and into
last year as central banks and governments unleashed unprecedented
stimulus into Covid-ravaged economies. That bull market came to an
abrupt end in November, as soaring inflation forced central banks
to take a more hawkish stance.
Bitcoin is more than 40 per cent off its peak, and many smaller
tokens have suffered even steeper declines. Among notable crypto
skeptics are investment legend Warren Buffett and his longtime
business partner Charlie Munger, who last week reiterated their
disdain for assets like Bitcoin.
Gucci generated more than half of Kering's revenue in the first
quarter of this year. The fashion house has recently been hit by
lockdowns in China, where the government has battled to contain a
resurgence of Covid-19.
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