High-end Italian fashion brand Gucci is the first major brand to accept ApeCoin (APE) payments. Gucci announced the news on Tuesday via Twitter.
“We are now accepting ApeCoin payments through BitPay and several Gucci boutiques in the United States are expanding crypto payment options,” the Italian fashion brand said via Twitter.
Not the first crypto move by Gucci
Despite the bear market, Gucci is not taking a back seat to crypto. The fashion house began in February with the SUPERGUCCI NFT collection in collaboration with vinyl toy brand SUPERPLASTIC.
Then it launched the Gucci Grail NFT collection aimed at owners of top collections like the Bored Ape Yacht Club.
With that, Gucci’s first flirtation with ApeCoin had already been made. Now we are a few months further along and it is possible to pay with the meme-coin at the major fashion brand. Earlier in May, Gucci already opened the possibility to pay with 12 different cryptocurrencies in 111 stores across America.
Among others, bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, shiba inu and litecoin are among that list of 12 crypto currencies.
VeChain tries to attract attention
The most popular response under the post is currently that of the VeChain Foundation. VeChain is a project that focuses, among other things, on the authentication and traceability of physical products via the blockchain.
“VeChain can integrate the Web3 directly into your product lines and deliver next-generation authentication, traceability and after-sales with our advanced blockchain,” said the VeChain Foundation.
To date, Gucci has not responded to VeChain, at least not publicly. It remains to be seen whether a fashion brand with Gucci’s status would be tempted to do anything with a party in this way. ApeCoin has seemingly earned this itself by building up a certain status within the industry.
Gucci popular with BAYC owners
Not surprisingly, the owners of one of the most expensive NFT collections in the world, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, have a special appreciation for the Gucci brand. Among others, NBATopShotEast, a pseudonymous Twitter personality, claims to be the first person to buy Gucci gear in a physical store in New York in exchange for ethers. Two other Bored Ape Yacht Club owners claim to be the numbers two and three.
It didn’t take long for NBATopShotEast to react to the news. In the above tweet, the BAYC collector says he hopes to become the first person to pay in-store with ApeCoin.
We are currently in a solid bear market, but so there is little sign of that at the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Gucci. If some people express the hope of becoming the first person to use ApeCoin to pay off a Gucci product, that group is not too bad in terms of pain and misery.
We probably can’t say that about everyone in the industry. That said, it’s nice to see that the development in NFTs and the industry around them continues.