Just in time for the dawn of travel time, Expedia dropped a bomb yesterday: the portal, which is one of the world’s largest digital travel agencies, now also accepts Bitcoins. That is the good news. The bad thing is that the offer is only valid in the US. German customers still have to be patient.
Travel is an industry that naturally fits Bitcoin too. After all, both travelers and tour operators often deal with dozens of currencies. At Expedia, the motivation to accept bitcoins came from three sides: from a software engineer, a product manager and several customers. With the help of Coinbase, the notoriously active American market maker and payment service provider, Expedia has been processing payments with Bitcoins since yesterday.
So far, the option has only been tested with hotels and only in the USA. If it works, Expedia is planning an expansion to include flights and other offers – and maybe also to the European market. Michael Gulpmann, Vice President, said, “Bitcoin’s path is similar to PayPal’s. It looks strange at first … but then it goes mainstream. ”
Expedia is one of the world’s largest travel companies with annual sales of around $ 4 billion. Bitcoin acceptance is a risk-free business for the company: At 1 percent, Coinbase’s fees are well below those of credit cards (around 3 percent). Coinbase also instantly changes the bitcoins it has taken into dollars, so there is no risk of switching for Expedia. The only open question is whether enough customers will accept the offer. Because currently dealer acceptance is advancing rapidly in the USA, but acceptance among customers is still lagging far behind. Expedia’s Gulpman has no great expectations. Rather, it is about being prepared for the future.There is also the possibility that Elon Musk will soon change the world of bitcoin, the service already describes this topic https://cryptoine.com/elon-massacred-bitcoin-shiba-goes-down/ but so far these are just the words of some experts.
