According to news reports, French luxury fashion designer Balenciaga will accept two major cryptocurrencies as payment. They will accept payment not only online but also in some of its physical stores starting June.
Balenciaga will initially only accept two major cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two biggest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. But the report says the luxury fashion brand aims to add support for more cryptocurrency in the future.
This move connotes that crypto is another step closer to widespread acceptability as a payment mechanism.
Latest fashion brand to accept crypto
Balenciaga is the latest traditional fashion house to accept cryptocurrency as a payment option.
In the first week of May, Gucci announced that it will accept cryptocurrency payments online and in five of its stores. Gucci accepts Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu as payment.
Balenciaga is privately designing a long-term Web3 business strategy as well.
Web3 is not unfamiliar with high fashion. Balenciaga, Gucci, Nike, Dolce & Gabbana, and Burberry, among others, have launched NFT collections and metaverse pop-ups in the last year.
As conventional as these firms are in certain ways, they all seem to perceive internet fashion as a lucrative commercial opportunity.
Surpass physical industry’s worth
Last year, several industry analysts in news reports said that the digital fashion sector might ultimately reach or even surpass the $2 trillion worth of the physical fashion industry.
Balenciaga announced the development of an internal metaverse business unit in December. While the label’s CEO, Cédric Charbit, refused to discuss the unit’s intentions or long-term strategy, he stated that he views “the metaverse as a country,” a market equally as vital as any other country the brand already works in.
Balenciaga’s acceptance of two major cryptocurrencies comes as many fear the cryptocurrency market will face another Crypto Winter.
The amount of Bitcoin required to buy a $1,250 Balenciaga sweatshirt last November is now worth a little under $563.
The brand’s leadership seems unfazed by the upheaval in the crypto market.