KPMG, Singapore Airlines And Microsoft Partner For Blockchain Airline Loyalty Program

KPMG, SIA, And Microsoft Partner for Blockchain-based, Airline Loyalty Program

KPMG International announced its Singapore office worked with Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Microsoft to develop the carrier's KrisPay digital wallet, the first airline loyalty program based on blockchain technology. SIA began the new digital wallet following a successful proof-of-concept development in Feb-2018.

With KrisPay, SIA's KrisFlyer members can spontaneously turn KrisFlyer miles into KrisPay tokens that can be spent with participating merchants. The digital wallet makes it easier for SIA clients to use miles in their KrisFlyer account as well as, allowing SIA to bring on new partners and reconciles payments using blockchain technology.

“With the blockchain-based digital wallet, it is a straightforward process for participating merchants to connect with the program and for customers to make purchases with their tokenized miles,” said Jan Reinmueller, Head of KPMG's Digital Village in Singapore. Adding, “The blockchain provides a distributed ledger that time-stamps every customer transaction in real-time, which provides significant cost and time efficiencies.”

To help satisfy the conditions for the innovative KrisPay blockchain solution, the KPMG Digital Village team brought a wide range of experience in solutions architecture, application build and graphic design and cybersecurity.

Andres Ortola, Enterprise Commercial Director, Microsoft, Singapore said:

“KrisPay showcases how blockchain can create new experiences for customers and partners alike. Microsoft's blockchain technology and Microsoft Azure, together with KPMG's innovation and experience, helped to accelerate deployment, and drive significant customer value.”