Peach Aviation will be the first airline in Japan to accept bitcoin payments for booking seats. While a first for Japan, other airlines around the world have already begun accepting the cryptocurrency. The company hopes that the addition will encourage more people to become customers.
Shinichi Inoue, CEO of Peach, said:
“We want to encourage visitors from overseas and the revitalisation of Japan’s regions. This is a real first step in partnerships for Japan and we are aiming for more company and service tie-ups.”
The move was made possible thanks to a law change in Japan on fund settlements, which took place in April. Bitcoin will be accepted for seat bookings by the end of 2017, according to the CEO. Shinichi hopes that with the increase in company and service tie-ups that the usage of the cryptocurrency will spread.
Bitcoin has recently been experiencing a spike in its value. By May 9, it had reached $1,700; yesterday it had shot up to $2,000. At the time of writing it was sitting at $2,190. Critics believe that bitcoin is experiencing a bubble and that it will correct itself to a lower price in the future; meanwhile, others say that it’s the result of investors getting on board and that it’ll continue to rise in value.
Source: Bloomberg | Image via Bitcoin Gator