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In March, Elon Musk announced that Tesla would accept Bitcoin as payment for car purchases, before recently backtracking and hinting that Dogecoin may be a preferred form of payment for the company. Virtual currencies like Bitcoin have evolved from being a fringe technology popular with cryptographers, to the world’s ninth most valuable asset by market cap. There are now more than 6,700 cryptocurrencies in public trading, and they work using a decentralized technology (spread across many different computers, and operating independently of banks) called blockchain, which tracks and manages transactions.
But Tesla wasn’t the first company to consider integrating virtual currencies as a form of payment. Actually, a number of beauty brands were ahead of the curve, quietly embracing cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as they prepare for an increasingly digital future.
Bitcoin and emerging crypto-assets like NFTs are drawing attention — and investment — from beauty brands. How they’re being used in the industry right now could hold clues as to the future of B2B and B2C beauty, as global markets continue to shift to digital and accept crypto transactions.