Quick-term lodging reserving platform Airbnb has filed a prospectus for a $1 billion preliminary public providing, or IPO, with america Securities
Quick-term lodging reserving platform Airbnb has filed a prospectus for a $1 billion preliminary public providing, or IPO, with america Securities and Change Fee on Nov. 16.
Hidden away within the 350+ web page doc is a half web page devoted to the dangers of not with the ability to adapt to adjustments in expertise. The doc reels off an inventory of buzz-words that savvy buyers might need to make certain are into account:
“Our future success may even depend upon our potential to adapt to rising applied sciences equivalent to tokenization, cryptocurrencies, new authentication applied sciences, equivalent to biometrics, distributed ledger and blockchain applied sciences, synthetic intelligence, digital and augmented actuality, and cloud applied sciences.”
The very subsequent paragraph goes on to clarify that the “potential to combine new or rising fee strategies” is a important element of future success. Nevertheless, the one strategies listed are Alipay, Paytm and WeChat pay.
Whereas these techniques are clearly necessary, particularly in providing entry to the unbanked, it does beg the query as to what Airbnb sees because the position of cryptocurrency in its future enterprise mannequin, apart from attracting buyers.
As Cointelegraph reported a yr in the past, it was once attainable to make use of Bitcoin (BTC) to e-book lodging on Airbnb by means of the acquisition of $25 and $100 gift-cards on the Fold app. Nevertheless, Airbnb is not among the many playing cards listed on the market on the platform.
In the meantime, blockchain companies have been actively utilizing the expertise to revive a journey trade that has been severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Apps have been launched to confirm vacationers’ well being standing, the cleanliness of surfaces in a New York airport, and blockchain tech has been utilized in some contact tracing apps to be able to protect consumer privateness. Even U.S. passport purposes in California can now be paid for in Bitcoin.
Whether or not Airbnb’s proclamations of the significance of crypto and blockchain adoption change into something greater than lip-service stays to be seen.