Gucci, one of the most famous luxury fashion brands worldwide, will implement cryptocurrency payments in five of its US stores by the end of May. These and more news in this practical daily summary so that you are always informed with the most recent events that occur within the crypto world.
Bitcoin and Blockchain Adoption
📍Gucci will begin accepting cryptocurrency payments in its US stores. Italian luxury fashion brand Gucci will launch a pilot later this month to accept cryptocurrency payments. The measure will be implemented in several of its stores in North America.
Marco Bizzarri, President and CEO of Gucci, told Vogue Business that the brand wants to stay at the forefront of new technologies, to provide an enhanced experience to all its customers. The Italian brand has been testing NFTs and the Metaverse in recent months. Now, Gucci's next step in the crypto world is the adoption of cryptocurrency payments.
The luxury fashion label will accept payments in crypto assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and even Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) at five select stores in the United States by the end of this month.
Gucci expects to expand cryptocurrency payments to all of its North American stores this year.
NFT and DeFi Markets
📍The Vatican and Starbucks join the NFT trend. The Vatican, the seat of Catholicism in Rome, is democratising access to art through NFTs. While Starbucks, one of the most famous coffee chains in the world, will use non-fungible tokens to offer new experiences to its customers and consumers.
The Vatican's idea is to immortalize and exhibit its valuable works of art and manuscripts through blockchain technology and NFTs. The Vatican has partnered with the startup Sensorium to create an exhibition room based on artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
Starbucks said it will build a digital community to explore the potential of Web3 and discover new ways to connect with its millions of customers around the world.
Innovation, Development and Technology
📍XCM, Polkadot’s new cross-parachain messaging system, is now live. The announcement was made by the Polkadot developers, who have pointed out that the XCM inter-parachain messaging system is now enabled.
The new system, as explained on Twitter, allows communication between parachains in the Polkadot ecosystem. In this way, it is possible to enable native interoperability between parachains, their dApps and other developments on Substrate.
XCM was enabled on the mainnet alongside the Statemint update. In this case, Statemint brings with it new features for the minting of NFT tokens within the network. In this way, Polkadot continues to evolve and provide new tools for its ever-growing community.
Rules and Regulations
📍California orders creation of regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. California Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered the creation of a regulatory framework for the crypto industry. This follows the executive order signed by President Joe Biden last March. The measure seeks to promote innovation in the crypto industry responsibly in the North American nation.
Newsom said the state of California will evaluate ways to implement blockchain technology within state and public institutions. He also noted that the state will “build research and workforce development pathways to prepare Californians for success in this industry.”
📍IMF raises concerns over Bitcoin adoption in Central African Republic As with El Salvador, the International Monetary Fund is warning about the risks and concerns of Bitcoin adoption in the Central African Republic. The African nation is now the second nation in the world to have made Bitcoin legal on its territory.
According to the IMF, the inclusion of bitcoin in the African nation's financial and economic system could lead to legal and transparency problems. The organization, in charge of promoting international monetary cooperation between its member states, believes that the combination of the traditional financial system with cryptocurrencies could lead to economic instability. In addition, it indicates that it could add new risks for investors and consumers.
However, as Bit2Me News reported in late April, the Central African Republic has become the second country in the world to regulate Bitcoin as legal tender. Additionally, the nation has also legalized the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. In fact, the nation’s president, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, confirmed the news by writing on Twitter that bitcoin is the “universal money.”
Continue reading: Leif Ferreira: «Bit2Me is that ship that helps people travel to the island of the decentralized world in a society of centralized services»
