Travala adds Binance Chain tech to boost its travel offering

Travala is using Binance’s own blockchain to help bring more decentralized features to its blockchain-friendly holiday booking service.

2 min read

Aug 20, 2020

Travala.com today announced a collaboration with Binance Chain, a blockchain developed by crypto exchange Binance, to develop blockchain-based solutions for travellers and travel suppliers.

The agreement will see Travala and Binance Chain work together to bring certain decentralized technology to Travala.com’s business model.

“The advantages of Binance Chain and particularly Binance Smart Chain systems with the newly added smart contracts functionality is the perfect tech solution for Travala.com to build the next major evolution of blockchain-based travel solutions,” Juan Otero, CEO of Travala told Decrypt.

Binance Smart Chain is Binance’s own blockchain platform that has smart contracts enabled, like Ethereum.

The collaboration between Travala and Binance will see new features including decentralized reviews and accommodation bookings. In addition, Travala will offer independent, decentralized agents the chance to expand the company’s sales in exchange for “a possible lifetime revenue stream, paid in the form of AVA,” Otero said. These earnings will be based on a percentage of total generated revenue.

These features will, in turn, enhance security for Travala’s users. “The basic advantages of blockchain technology are decentralization, immutability, security, and transparency,” Otero said, adding, “So everything from the booking process to payments and loyalty and rewards will boost a level of security significantly higher than existing mainstream OTAs.”

Travala uses blockchain technology to connect travellers with over 2 million properties in over 230 countries. The company’s proprietary cryptocurrency, AVA, can be used for payments, rewards, refunds and as a store of value, in addition to 30 other mainstream cryptocurrencies.

“This partnership with Binance Chain represents another important step for Travala.com and its native token AVA towards aligning travel bookings with the ethos of decentralized technology,” said Otero.

Binance DEX is a self-custodial exchange, developed on top of Binance Chain. It allows the Binance platform to leverage peer-to-peer trading.

“Binance is committed to supporting partners in building innovative decentralized applications that will help grow the industry,” said Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance.

Now if only we could actually go on holiday.

Get crypto news straight to your inbox--

sign up for the Decrypt Daily below. (It’s free).

Get Email!

Decrypt’s 2024 Project of the Year: Solana Meme Machine Pump.fun

It started on a whim. Two devs, a laptop, and an idea to develop a platform for launching crypto tokens fairly, cheaply, and easily—all while minimizing the risk of scams. The product wasn’t perfect—far from it. And after launching in January, it arguably led to more crypto scams than would have existed without it; they just looked different. But by the end of the year, the Solana meme coin launchpad Pump.fun had become undeniably the most culturally significant crypto project of the year. Maybe...

Top College Football Pick Inks Bitcoin Contract With University of South Carolina

Top college football prospect Matai Tagoa’i is set to join football stars like Russell Okung, Odell Beckham Jr., and Trevor Lawrence by receiving his compensation in Bitcoin. The linebacker will be paid part of his earnings via the Strike app after signing a “name, image, and likeness” (NIL) deal with the University of Southern California (USC). The exact details of his package are not known, but some college football players, such as Shedeur Sanders, have received estimated payouts of up to $4....

Tornado Cash Dev Wants Charges Dropped Because Sanctions Deemed Illegal

Roman Storm, co-founder of crypto-mixing platform Tornado Cash, hopes to have charges against him dropped after sanctions against his software were dropped. In Storm’s Dec. 18 motion to dismiss, he cites the recent Fifth Circuit ruling that the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) overstepped by sanctioning Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts. The ruling recognized that autonomous software that no one controls cannot be classified as property. The ruling, the document reads, “...

News

Courses

Deep Dives

Coins

Videos