Airbnb exploring Crypto payments: What does this mean

Airbnb, one of the leading home rental platforms in the world is exploring crypto payments. The news broke after Brian Chesky, its founder posted a question on Twitter asking what new feature should Airbnb add in 2022.

The responses were overwhelmingly in favour of adding crypto as a payment option for platform users. Airbnb had been noticing the gradual global shift that has taken place for cryptocurrencies and it is not the only one, as Ebay and Uber are also exploring crypto payments.

If Bitcoin becomes the first crypto to be adopted by the online rental marketplace, then it will probably be in the form of L2 payment systems like the Lightning Network. Bitcoin has failed to scale on L1 and its transaction fees and times have priced out most people making it unable to serve its main purpose as per the Whitepaper: being Peer-2-Peer cash.

In my opinion we should expect to see a number of different instant payment - low-fee tokens, and stablecoins to be supported by Airbnb as the company has always been open to support different fiat currencies and payment systems. This policy should transpire also in their crypto payments.

Thinking of it, this is great news for Bitcoin Cash because it forked out of Bitcoin Core in order to do just that, stay true to the Bitcoin Whitepaper by having bigger blocks that allow for instant and low fee transactions. Therefore, I expect that Bitcoin Cash will be one of the selected tokens to serve as a crypto-payment method by Airbnb. In this instance, I would suggest that BCH will need influential people within the community to lobby for that, as it can be also a win scenario for BCH by increasing its global adoption.

Other legacy coins such a Litecoin, USDT, or even Ethereum (with its crazy fees!) will probably make the list if you judge by their acceptance level by other vendors who allow for crypto-payments globally. Don't be surprised if you see meme-coins that want to pose serious like Dogecoin added as payment method, though the chances are slim. Its supporters (including Elon Musk) have shown to be very vocal and make quite a noise in social media and this can affect decision making processes.

Why this is beneficial

First, it will be beneficial for users looking to book Airbnbs through another payment option which is faster and with lower fees.

Second, since one of the missions of crypto is banking the unbanked, you can expect that the user base of the platform will grow as many people in the developing world don't have access accounts but they do have crypto wallets.

Third, user fees in the platform when booking your stay by paying in crypto could be lower than by paying with your bank card.

Fourth, hosts who list their properties through Airbnb will be able to receive their payments faster and with lower fees than receiving the money to their bank accounts. This is true in developing countries where bank fees are high for international transfers and it can take days for the money to be credited to their bank accounts.

Fifth, Airbnb will remain in the forefront of innovation. As crypto adoption is growing, new crypto friendly online marketplaces like Travala have popped up. By adopting crypto payments, Airbnb will continue having an edge against its future competitors and also expand its leverage with existing ones like Booking.com and VRBO.