The most eccentric haute couture brand, particularly famous in recent years for its unorthodox and scandalous collections, will begin accepting crypto payments, particularly in BTC and ETH. Crypto will be accepted at Balenciaga's flagship stores in Los Angeles, New York and also online at the brand's site.
Crypto moves in high fashion
It is not known whether this decision is inspired by the choice to hold its latest fashion show on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and use fake bankrolls as an invitation or whether one cannot move the boundaries of fashion without using crypto—the most boundary-breaking currency—as a payment method, but Balenciaga joins an already elite company of pro-crypto brands in its innovations.
Still, it is unclear what solution the fashion house would choose to make crypto payments, but it is definitely clear that the brand considers crypto in its long-term plans, and even the record decline in BTC quotes has not forced them to abandon this idea.
It seems that the brand has definitely chosen the right strategy, having waited until colleagues and competitors in the luxury world introduce crypto into their operations and demonstrate by example what works immediately, what is worth refining and what is not worth using at all. The last point especially resonates with today's hack of the Twitter account of famous NFT artist Beeple in the run-up to his collaboration with Louis Vuitton, which resulted in the theft of about $440,000.
We are looking forward to models wearing laser eyes and hard wallets as an invitation to Balenciaga's next show.
Vladislav Sopov
Tomiwabold Olajide
Dan Burgin
Alex Dovbnya