Why Airbnb and Other Travel Brands Are Interested in Blockchain Technology
Skift Take
Blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt nearly every aspect of every industry imaginable. But can it overcome its predecessor's (Bitcoin) stumbles and, if so, how would it potentially work in the travel space?
Did you ever wish you could instantly receive your American Airlines AAdvantage miles as soon as you settled into your cramped middle seat?
Or that you didn't have to worry about carrying around your passport with you everywhere you go when you're traveling abroad? Or what if, the next time you book a listing on Airbnb, your reputation score and that of your host can be confirmed instantly?
A single technology disruptor, born of Bitcoin, is emerging as a possible solution for those travel-related situations. It's blockchain, the underlying system by which a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin operates. Bitcoin is just another name for digital currency and it runs off of blockchain.
"Bitcoin is like Skype for money," said Melanie Swan, a blockchain theorist at the New School for Social Research in New York. "It digitizes it, and put money on the Internet. Blockchain is the software protocol upon which Bitcoin runs." Swan gave the analogy of email to better describe how blockchain opera
