There are two major problems which are associated with cryptocurrencies over the years - awareness and adoption. While 2017 was the year awareness increased, 2018 is likely to be the year the adoption will increase. Peach Aviation - the popular Japanese low-cost airlines had promised last year that they will soon be introducing support for Bitcoins. The initial promise was that this system would be set up before the year ended. However, they later postponed it to March 2018.
Peach Aviation has now confirmed that they are still on track with their promise of March 2018. The airline has teamed up with BITPoint Japan for setting up these Bitcoin payment systems. Moreover, the partnership with BITPoint will also oversee the installation of Bitcoin ATMs at airports.
Ever since the first delay from their plans, there were speculations if Peach Aviation is going to introduce Bitcoin payments at all. Especially considering the current condition of the markets where a ‘bloodbath’ phase has reduced the price of almost all cryptocurrencies down by 50% in a week.
Another rising concern is regarding the safety of cryptocurrency exchanges and other similar trading platforms. Japan’s local media recently reported that Peach might be changing plans due to the recent CoinCheck hacks, which resulted in a theft of over $530 Million. Following these rumours, there were reports that Peach officials aren’t quite confident on the future of cryptocurrency payments.
However, Peach Aviation, in their new statement, has confirmed the fact that they will indeed be introducing Bitcoin payment support soon. Here’s the official statement from the airline: “There have been some reports today on our company retracting its plan to enable airline tickets to be purchased with Bitcoins; however, this is not something that was announced by our company and is not a fact. We are currently considering our start period in aiming to introduce such a service.”
Japan is one of the biggest nations which openly supports the use of cryptocurrencies - a number of Japanese organizations accept cryptocurrency payments. The country had declared Bitcoins as a legal form of payment last year. A number of other nations too are slowly opening up to this idea of legal cryptocurrency payments with many countries even proposing their own, state-regulated cryptocurrency.
Of late, the aviation sector has been attracting a number of cryptocurrency and blockchain based solutions. Australia’s Brisbane airport recently became the first airport to fully support cryptocurrencies - not just for flights, but also for the cafes and shops. Singapore International airlines announced today that they are about to introduce a blockchain based digital wallet app for their frequent flyers. AirBaltic was the first airline to begin accepting cryptocurrency payments back in July 2017.