Gucci customers in the United States (U.S.) will now be able to purchase items in-store using APE, with the payment infrastructure provided by BitPay, a company that has previously assisted big names such as AMC Theaters in accepting crypto payments.
Major brand to accept payments in ApeCoin (APE), which is affiliated with the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).
The move, announced on August 1, could give the ApeCoin project significant mainstream exposure while also adding utility to the cryptocurrency.
Gucci customers in the United States (U.S.) will now be able to purchase items in-store using APE, with the payment infrastructure provided by BitPay, a company that has previously assisted big names such as AMC Theaters in accepting crypto payments.
Despite the current crypto bear market, the fashion brand has made a significant investment in the crypto sector this year.
In February, Gucci launched the "SUPERGUCCI" NFT collection in collaboration with X toy brand SUPERPLASTIC. The following month, Gucci released the "Gucci Grail" NFT collection, which was directed toward owners of top NFT projects like the BAYC.
In May, the brand announced plans to accept 12 crypto assets as payment methods in 111 stores across North America. Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, Wrapped Bitcoin, Litecoin, Shiba Inu, Dogecoin, and five US dollar stablecoins were on the list.
So far, BAYC collectors appear to be enthusiastic about Gucci's crypto moves, with NBATopShotEast claiming to have made the first Gucci purchase using ETH at the brand's Wooster store in New York City in July. While two more BAYC members asserted that they were the second and third individuals to do so.
Following the most recent APE announcement, NBATopShotEast asserted intentions to once again be the first person to use the asset in the Wooster Gucci store.
The Apecoin community
APE was launched to much anticipation earlier this year in March. Its accompanying decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and governance community has remained highly engaged since then, overseeing significant decisions such as the veto of a proposal to port APE from ETH to a new blockchain in June.
Last month, the DAO approved several notable proposals, including researching the feasibility of hosting an NFT conference and festival and providing APE funding for the BoredApeGazette to become a 24hrs news website. While the project is working on implementing APE staking in response to a strong community push.
At the time of writing, APE is trading at $6.81, up 8.6 percent in the last 24 hours. APE has recently experienced a strong resurgence, due to the positive developments in the affiliated Otherside Metaverse project, with the price increasing by 38% in the last month.
With a current market cap of approximately $2.06 billion, APE is the thirty-third largest cryptocurrency asset; however, APE is still down 74.8 percent from its all-time high of $26.70 on April 28.
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