No credit card, no problem: Emirates customers will soon be able to use crypto-currency to pay for flights.
Emirates wants to step into the metaverse
Emirates will soon offer an alternate payment method for customers, in the form of crypto-currency. Adel Ahmed Al-Redha, COO at Emirates, announced at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) that the airline had plans to add Bitcoin as a ticket payment option.
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The airline also has plans in the works to launch its own non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and build its own metaverse.
According to Travel news, NFTs are basically digital assets that can be purchased using crypto-currency. It works a little differently than regular crypto-currency, though. Where a crypto-currency, such as Bitcoin, is fungible, which means that all tokens are equal, each NFT is unique and holds its own value. Customers will be able to buy, sell and trade Emirates’ NFTs on the airline’s website once they have been launched.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline and Group, said that they are excited about the new opportunity.
“We are excited about the opportunities in the digital space of the future and are committing a significant investment in financial and resourcing terms to develop products and services using advanced technologies that will deliver on revenue, brand experience, and business efficiencies,” he said.
According to Blockworks, back in April, Emirates first made public its plan to spend “tens of millions of dollars” on a strategy to extend its services to the metaverse and to develop collectible and utility-based NFTs, with a launch anticipated in the next few months.
“With the metaverse, you will be able to transform your whole processes into a metaverse-type application but, more importantly, you will make it interactive,” Adel Ahmed Al-Redha added.
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