Dubai-based Emirates Airlines announced plans to provide cryptocurrency payments to its customers as part of a preliminary agreement with digital asset exchange Crypto.com, the companies said Wednesday.
All parties signed Understanding memorandum (Memorandum of Understanding) Explore payments to Crypto.com into Emirates payment systems and plans to launch the feature sometime next year. If completed, this will make Emirates one of the first major global operators to support cryptocurrencies as payment options.
UAE Vice President and CCO Adnan Kazim said the move is “part of a broader strategy to leverage a younger, tech-savvy customer base who prefers digital currency to pay”.
Crypto.com is a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange with over 80 million users worldwide operating its payment service Crypto.com payments in certain markets. This service allows customers to purchase using popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin
Ethereum’s Ether and Cronos’ CRO – a blockchain closely related to Crypto.com.
Emirates’ announcement is amid Dubai’s ambitious ambitions to position itself as a global crypto hub based on a regulatory framework that is attractive to digital asset companies. For example, Dubai earlier this year agree Allows payment of cryptocurrencies for government services in an agreement with Crypto.com.
