Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky hinted that the popular travel website could soon accept cryptocurrencies for payments. “Just like in travel, there is a revolution in crypto,” he added.
Airbnb, the popular platform to book accommodation, may start accepting cryptocurrencies this year. Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, posted a list of customer demands on Twitter, with crypto payments topping the requests.
Chesky noted his company is already addressing most of the customer suggestions while promising to investigate the rest. The majority of these pro-crypto brands are based in the US, but a bunch of consumer brands has opened crypto payments recently.
In his Twitter thread, Chesky said that the company will be open to a variety of token ideas if Airbnb does begin accepting crypto payments.
On Twitter earlier this week, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky asked, “if Airbnb were to launch anything in 2022, what would it be?”.
Thousands of suggestions were provided to him, he revealed on Tuesday, and the most popular suggestion was that his company accept crypto payments. Additionally, “Our existing payments volume = $336 billion processed since 2013,” noting that crypto payments include a variety of token ideas.
Airbnb accepts the following payment methods in most countries: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB and “debit cards that can be processed as credit cards”. Even Apple Pay, Google Pay and Paypal are also accepted. However, cryptocurrency is currently not accepted on Airbnb.
The question of whether Airbnb is considering cryptocurrency was put to Chesky last year. He responded: “There is definitely a revolution happening in crypto. Just like in travel, we are definitely looking into it.”
The executive added: “What’s important is when ordinary people begin to understand how the new technology can improve their lives beyond the initial excitement. I’m really excited about certain applications that people can use to live a better everyday life.”
In contrast, most brands around the world are skeptical about accepting crypto payments. Several governments across the world are mulling over ways to regulate the crypto sector due to concerns that this sector would be misused to facilitate unlawful activities.
