Since last year, more and more luxury companies are engaging in NFT, metaverse or, more recently, cryptocurrencies. Is this just a trend or a flourishing economic market? Let’s take a closer look at the cryptocurrencies that are intoxicating many luxury brands.
As we have seen on several occasions, from watchmakers Jacob & Co. and Longines to Italian Houses Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana and Burberry, the virtual world is being used in a wide variety of projects.
However, recent months have seen the advent of cryptocurrencies in the field of vision of many luxury houses. More discreet than NFTs or the metaverse, they are nonetheless a significant variable in the development of luxury.
What are luxury brands looking for in cryptocurrencies?
While Italian luxury streetwear brand Philipp Plein became the first major fashion brand to accept cryptocurrency as an official means of payment last year, it has paved the way for many other brands that are now interested in the currency. Some are even going beyond using existing cryptocurrencies as an intermediary as Singaporean fashion house Charles & Keith created its own crypto payment method earlier this year.
Now it’s Off-White‘s turn to take an interest in them. On Thursday 31st March, the label founded nine years ago by the late American designer Virgil Abloh announced that three of its flagship shops in Europe will now accept crypto-currency payments as their official currency. The Off-White flagships in Paris, London and Milan are involved. The brand release also states that the brand will accept cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB) and Ripple (XRP), as well as the stablecoins Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC).
These special transactions will be carried out using the LUNU POS terminal, which has the ability to find the best crypto-currency exchange rates and thus, minimize potential losses.
As is widely known, the exchange of crypto-currencies for goods is considered risky and unreliable today and the crypto-currency markets, volatile. This makes cryptocurrency declines particularly difficult to monitor, which is why this move by Off-White is not safe and was a well-considered decision. Especially when considering customers who are looking to invest in luxury purchases and therefore hope to profit from the potential fluctuating value of assets.
However, this decision to better consider cryptocurrencies at Off-White was taken with the aim of opening up to a wider, decentralised and younger clientele for the brand. This is conducive to the good development of the brand throughout the world.
If this rapprochement of Off-White towards cryptocurrencies may seem surprising at first, it is no longer so when we look at the initiatives thought by the house at the end of 2021, before the death of Abloh. Indeed, Abloh’s plan was to develop a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) called “SKYSCRAPER” to become a digital space for the sale of NFTs and physical works by contemporary artists.
Virgil saw Web3, in his own words, as an opportunity to “inch us a little closer toward a utopia for creativity.” pic.twitter.com/G9U06ezcjn
— Fred Ehrsam (@FEhrsam) November 29, 2021
Tiffany & Co plays with cryptocurrencies
The American luxury jewelry company Tiffany & Co. has also taken a step into the world of cryptocurrencies. On April 1st, the company announced that it had launched its own cryptocurrency and was venturing into crypto-trading with the creation of its own crypto-currency: “TiffCoin“.
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Although this announcement turned out to be an April Fool’s joke, the brand then took the opportunity to announce that the “TiffCoin” project was real and not quite virtual. Indeed, in honour of its “Tiffany Money” coins that could be exchanged for jewellery in the 1970s and 1980s, Tiffany & Co. has gone ahead and created “TiffCoin” and celebrates the company’s history.
Tiffany & Co. has created 499 18-carat gold coins, which will be sold exclusively between 11:11 a.m. on Saturday, April 2 and 11:11 a.m. on Sunday, April 3 in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Interested parties could buy this “TiffCoin” for the modest sum of $9,999.99 USD, or 9,150 euros.
If you think that this piece will only be a collector’s item or a celebration of Tiffany’s history, think again. All of the coins have been individually engraved and numbered and will give holders access to future Tiffany events.
Before revealing the truth about this deception, the announcement of the fake cryptocurrency signed Tiffany & Co. had gone viral on social networks, proof of the impact that the cryptocurrency has today. A successful marketing stunt, therefore, for Tiffany & Co…
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Featured photo : © Getty Images
