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The self-proclaimed first crypto-native luxury brand, 9dcc, is shutting down.
The brand’s anonymous founder, Gmoney, announced the news in a post on X Tuesday and said the company would wind down operations at the end of the month.
“Despite strong brand recognition and community engagement, we were unable to overcome the macroeconomic headwinds in consumer Web 3 and global luxury retail softness,” Gmoney wrote in the post.
The brand launched in 2022, not long after the bursting of the crypto bubble in late 2021 sent values of cryptocurrencies and NFTs plummeting. It was a bet on the long-term future of web3, and Gmoney, by then a prominent figure in the crypto world who had collaborated with Adidas on its own NFT project, had the goal of integrating blockchain’s capabilities into luxury fashion. Each garment, for instance, had an electronic NFC chip that linked to an NFT proving its provenance.
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Over time, the brand built out more features, like letting one person tap the NFC chip in another person’s garment to claim a digital token representing them. It also hosted in-person meet ups and events, and unveiled a white-label platform for brands that wanted to use its technological infrastructure.
Despite the struggles of the crypto world in recent years, Gmoney expressed optimism about the future of the brand and web3 as recently as November 2024, as Donald Trump, who had promised during his campaign to make the US the world’s crypto capital, prepared to retake the office of president in the US following his election win.
“Team has been trying for months to raise and unfortunately the VC appetite for a consumer brand was not there,” a 9dcc administrator in the brand’s Discord channel posted after the news came out that the brand would be closing down.
Gmoney thanked his team in his post on X.
“Over the last few years, we’ve been on a journey to merge the digital and physical worlds,” he wrote. “We did innovative drops, had amazing irl events and activations, and fostered a community at the intersection of tech and fashion.”
Learn more:
What a Web3 Luxury Brand Looks Like
Gmoney, an anonymous and influential figure in the NFT world who has worked with brands like Adidas, is launching a luxury fashion line with the tokens built into the business model.
