Benzinga - Many major companies have launched plans or explored entering the world of Web3. One of the largest apparel companies credits an interest in Bitcoin by Elon Musk as being the inspiration for its Web3 aspirations.
What Happened: Electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) shocked many when it announced that it was allowing purchases with leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin (NASDAQ: BTC) in 2021. The company also bought Bitcoin itself and added the apex crypto to its balance sheet the same year.
Tesla would hold the Bitcoin and sell it in chunks including one initial sale right away to demonstrate liquidity, the company said. Tesla announced in 2022 that it had sold 75% of its Bitcoin. The company ended the recent fourth quarter with $184 million in digital assets on its balance sheet, which could consist of Bitcoin and Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE).
While Tesla stopped accepting Bitcoin as a payment option for its vehicles, the company has made most of its merchandise available for purchase with Dogecoin, showing a level of cryptocurrency acceptance.
Tesla was one of the first major companies to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet and to accept the cryptocurrency as a payment option, which may have inspired other companies.
The move by Tesla also inspired one company to get more involved in Web3.
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Tesla Opened the Door: Apparel company Adidas (OTC: ADDYY) credits Tesla accepting Bitcoin as the door-opening moment for the company and its ambitions in the world of Web3.
Adidas Web3 lead Erika Wykes-Sneyd told Decrypt that Tesla’s acceptance of Bitcoin helped Adidas “start the conversation” about what the company could do with blockchain with crypto advocates.
“Elon Musk helped to open that door for us, just a little bit, so we could capture people’s imaginations internally,” Wykes-Sneyd told Decrypt. “We did use it as a slipstream.”
The Adidas executive said the company wanted to avoid just being a company that accepts cryptocurrency and instead get further involved.
“I think those of us that knew were like, ‘Well, I don’t think just accepting crypto is what it means to get in this space.’”
Adidas has launched its own NFT collection called Into the Metaverse, partnered with Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) and The Sandbox.
Adidas also purchased Bored Ape Yacht Club #8774, now known as Indigo Herz, for 46 Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) on Sep. 17, 2021. The Bored Ape was featured in a World Cup trailer from Adidas.
Wykes-Sneyd said Adidas went through a lot of planning to put forth a Web3 strategy that took nine to 10 months.
“By the time we went to market, everybody, for the most part, thought, ‘Wow, Adidas is early,’ and we were, but we were actually thinking about this and planning it for 10 months prior.”
Wykes-Sneyd said Adidas’ future Web3 plans could include token-gated sneaker drops and utilizing Apecoin (CRYPTO: APE) as a payment option.
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