Equinox Fitness Center Now Allows Payments in Cryptocurrency

Luxury fitness and gym club, Equinox Group has noted that it will start permitting its clients to start paying for their annual membership fee in digital currencies. The new allowance is being rolled out in partnership with BitPay, a prominent digital currency payment service provider. 

Starting this week, customers will be able to for their membership with Equinox which could be as high as $250 monthly through one of the cryptocurrencies being supported on the BitPay app. This includes Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and one of the five other US Dollar-pegged stablecoins on the platform.

“More than ever, consumers are making luxury purchases through cryptocurrency, and offering cryptocurrency as a form of payment enables Equinox to continue to meet their community where they are,” the company said in a statement. 

A number of companies have continued to lend support for Bitcoin and digital currencies as a whole, a move that is targeted in order to hit a very broad range of users who now fancy cryptocurrencies.

The support for these nascent asset classes is, however, coming almost at no loss to these brands as the coins are typically converted to USD at the point of transaction. This conversion predisposes the startups to no risks inherent in the volatility associated with the nascent industry.

Growing Tally of Brands Embracing Bitcoin

The acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment or by brands, in general, is a global movement and is a trend that is becoming prevalent among firms in the United States, to real estate firms in Dubai, a supermarket chain in Croatia, and around the world.

In a bid to tag along with the growing popularity and embrace of cryptocurrencies, Fidelity Investments floated a new 401(k) account in which employers can permit workers to invest a portion of their retirement funds in Bitcoin.

While regulators are generally skeptical about investments in digital assets, investment managers like Fidelity who has investment vehicles bordering on those assets puts a small cap on the total percentage of a client’s portfolio that can be exposed to the digital currency investment. This notably helps introduce a safety cap that assuages regulators across the board.