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Italian luxury brand Gucci has announced its intention to start accepting cryptocurrency payments in some of its stores in America.
Customers will be able to pay using a number of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.
The service will launch later this month at some of the major outlets, including Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles and Wester Street in New York.
Gucci, owned by French company Kering, joins a growing number of companies that have begun accepting cryptocurrencies.
The company said it will also receive payments in Shiba Inu and Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that was originally created as a joke.
Customers paying in stores with cryptocurrency will be emailed with a QR code to be used with the digital asset wallet via the mobile money application.
QR codes – or quick response – are the black and white squares similar to barcodes that can be read by mobile phones and have been used increasingly widely since the beginning of the pandemic.
The brand said it plans to implement the policy in all North American stores it will operate directly in the near future.
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The announcement by this high-profile brand represents another step forward for the acceptance of cryptocurrencies by major companies.
Gucci is the latest big name to announce that it will accept cryptocurrency as a payment method.
Some of the world’s biggest brands now accept cryptocurrencies, including tech giant Microsoft, US telecoms company AT&T and coffee chain Starbucks.
Last year, Bitcoin also became legal tender in two countries, El Salvador and the Central African Republic.
Since El Salvador said it would allow consumers to use cryptocurrency in all transactions, along with the US dollar, the International Monetary Fund has urged it to reverse its decision.
