Cody McGrath 
Gucci is courting the cryptocurrency crowd. By the end of this month the brand will accept cryptocurrency payments in a few US stores
Gucci To Accept BTC, SHIB As Payments
Gucci is courting the cryptocurrency crowd. By the end of this month, the brand will accept cryptocurrency payments in a few US stores, with plans to expand the trial to all of its directly managed North American stores by this summer.
The move is a huge endorsement of the currency from a well-known luxury brand.
Customers will be able to make in-store crypto payments by clicking on a link supplied to them via email that contains a QR code that allows them to make the payment from their crypto wallet.
Wooster Street in New York, Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, Miami Design District, Phipps Plaza in Atlanta, and The Shops at Crystals in Las Vegas are the first Gucci boutiques to accept cryptocurrency.
Gucci will take Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, wrapped Bitcoin, Litecoin, Shiba Inu, and five stablecoins tied to the US dollar, among other currencies. Dogecoin, a “meme” cryptocurrency that was designed as a joke, will also be accepted.
Similar to mobile credit card payments, crypto payments are typically accepted in physical venues using a QR code or NFC reader on an existing point of sale terminal that interacts with a customer’s smartphone cryptocurrency software.
A store can either convert cryptocurrency payments to fiat currency, such as US dollars or maintain them in cryptocurrency.
Gucci has recently formed a Web3-focused team and has purchased and is building digital real estate on The Sandbox, a blockchain-based real estate platform that also includes Adidas and Al Dente.
The one-of-a-kind art film sold for $25,000 in June, making Gucci the first luxury brand to release an NFT. In addition to its Discord and Sandbox investments, it has released two other NFT projects and opened a Discord server since then.