Ferrari is one of the world’s most exclusive brands, which means it gets to pick and choose which customers who come by will receive the keys to its next luxury sports car, which proudly sports its iconic prancing horse on the grille.
So news coming out of its Maranello headquarters that the Italian manufacturer now accepts cryptocurrencies as payment for its vehicles makes the announcement all the more unusual — even for Elon Musk. Elon Musk’s Tesla doesn’t offer that option either.
“This will help us connect with people who are not necessarily our customers but might be able to afford a Ferrari,” said Enrico Galliera, the company’s head of sales. Reuters in a interview Published on Saturday.
In order to avoid being affected by the price fluctuations of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) (two of the three currencies accepted by Circle, as well as Circle’s USDC stablecoin), it will transfer the risk to the main provider of crypto payment services. Trader BitPay.
This way, Ferrari avoids holding tokens on its own balance sheet, thereby insulating investors from cryptocurrency market risks such as those posed by the collapse of Terraluna, Celsius, 3AC and, most importantly, FTX last year.
“This is one of our main goals: to avoid our dealers and us from dealing directly with cryptocurrencies and to be protected from their large fluctuations,” Galliera told the news agency.
Given the anonymity offered by digital wallets (which enhances their appeal to shady elements in society), BitPay will ensure that payments are not laundered illegally for the purposes of organized crime or tax evasion.
Galliera said the decision was made at the request of dealers and customers and will initially be limited to the U.S. market, with plans to add European markets early next year.
The company, best known for its mid-engine V12 supercars such as the Enzo and La Ferrari, recently launched the Purosangue crossover, the first four-door model in the brand’s 84-year history.
A departure from a strict devotion to coupes that was once considered unthinkable has allowed it to poach customers from the Lamborghini Urus, Aston Martin DBX and Bentley Bentayga.
The fast-growing luxury crossover segment is popular in China, where demand for the two-door luxury sports cars Ferrari specializes in has underperformed compared with other regions such as the United States.
wealth Ferrari was contacted for more details on its crypto payments program, but representatives could not be reached.
Tesla abandons brief foray into crypto car sales
Tesla briefly tried accepting BTC for car payments in early 2021 after buying $1.5 billion worth of the digital currency, but the effort only lasted a few weeks. CEO Musk later withdrew the proposal, Quote Three exposures (one from wealth) reveals the enormous amount of energy consumed by the Bitcoin blockchain to support the computationally intensive consensus mechanism known as proof-of-work.
The value of Musk’s Bitcoin holdings was the subject of multiple allegations of serious impairment before liquidating most of his remaining assets last year. At the time, he sought to reassure cryptocurrency enthusiasts, claiming that this was not a vote on the technology but was motivated by concerns about “the overall liquidity of the company.”
Since then, Musk has only allowed a handful of select Tesla-branded items in his merchandise store to be sold for Dogecoin, despite his reputation for supporting the technology and repeated calls from the community to reinstate the option.
Ferrari’s Galliera did not say how many cars he expected to sell via cryptocurrency, but he said the company wanted to conduct the experiment in a universe where popularity has exploded during the pandemic.
Every luxury brand needs to constantly refresh its image to maintain its ambitions, and the attitude of digital native Zoomers towards brands and products is often very different from any previous generation.
This is especially true for younger consumers who are disillusioned with traditional finance (i.e. “TradFi”). Instead, they are turning to decentralized finance (or “DeFi”), such as cryptocurrencies and other blockchain-based commodities, as more attractive alternatives.
“Some (clients) are young investors who have accumulated wealth through cryptocurrencies,” Galliera said.
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