New Yorkers who want to get in shape for the summer will soon be able to pay for an Equinox membership with cryptocurrency, The Post has learned.
The luxury health club will become the first gym in the Big Apple to allow members to pay their membership fee in digital currency, a source told The Post on Sunday.
The gym is expected to announce the decision to accept crypto payments on Monday.
Equinox wants to meet members “where they are both digitally and physically” and is partnering with BitPay, a major bitcoin and crypto payment service, the source said.
The decision comes as gyms have all but recovered from their major pandemic slump. Equinox said sales were up 122% in Q1 when compared to Q1 in 2019 and Crunch gyms told The Post its sales are up 60.9% in Q1 compared to the same time frame.
Equinox, which costs upwards of $250 per month, is hardly the first luxury brand to start allowing customers to pay in cryptocurrency.
In March 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said anyone in the US could pay for their electric vehicle in Bitcoin, and he even started accepting Dogecoin for Tesla merchandise.
Last summer, the San Jose Sharks became the first NHL team to allow fans to use Bitcoin to buy season tickets and suite leases.
This past February, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the ride-hailing app will “absolutely” accept cryptocurrency as payment in the future.
Even Fidelity announced last week that it created a way for workers to funnel some of their 401k contributions to Bitcoin.
Equinox’s decision comes at a turbulent time for Bitcoin, which could soon slump to $30,000 as investors move cash from speculative assets to safer bets, market watchers told The Post in April.
