French Luxury Brand Balenciaga to Accept Crypto Payments

Popular fashion brand Balenciaga has joined a growing list of fashion giants to adopt cryptocurrencies as payment options, Women’s Wear Daily reported Monday.

Balenciaga Announces Crypto Payments

Founded more than a century ago, Balenciaga is best known for its classy designer shoes and its triangle duffle bag selling for at least $1,000. The company has more than 180 stores globally that generated $2.3 billion in revenue last year. 

The fashion giant revealed it now accepts crypto payments, starting with its stores in New York and Beverly Hills. The offer will also be available to customers purchasing items directly on its official website. 

As one of the most popular fashion brands in the world, Balenciaga plans to extend the service to other regions and branches in due time. 

According to the report, customers in the approved jurisdictions will be able to pay with bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) but the company plans to add other cryptocurrencies in the future. 

Although Balenciaga is yet to conclude on the best financial service provider to accelerate its crypto payments, the company noted that the volatility in the crypto market will not affect its decision as it is nothing new.

“Balenciaga is thinking long-term about crypto, and fluctuations in currency value are nothing new,” the company said. 

Balenciaga Plans NFT Launch

Meanwhile, before now, the fashion brand announced plans to launch its non-fungible token (NFT) collection dubbed “The Cristóbal Balenciaga: To the Moon NFTs.” 

The digital artwork was inspired by Lorenzo Riva’s collection of more than 800 drawings and endorsed by Cristóbal Balenciaga, founder of the renowned fashion brand. The collection will be listed on the CryptoCom NFT marketplace at launch.

More Fashion Brands Embrace Crypto

Aside from Balenciaga, other fashion houses have started accepting cryptocurrencies as payment options. In April, the Italian fashion empire Off-White started accepting eight crypto payments from customers.

Earlier this month, another popular fashion brand, Gucci, disclosed that the company will start accepting 10 cryptocurrrencies as payments towards the end of the month.