KrisPay: Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Program Opens Blockchain Travel Wallet

If you haven’t flown on Singapore Airlines, it’s one of the best travel experiences a traveled can have. The top-rated high-end airline is a leading example of excellent customer service – and has finally unveiled their KrisPay wallet to the public. The wallet is simple to use, allowing customers the ability to exchange cryptocurrency for frequent flyer miles and vice versa.

To incorporate the new technology into their already existing rewards program, Singapore Airlines has created a specialized private blockchain in conjunction with Microsoft. The blockchain works directly with the SIA wallet applications for members using KrisFlyer to manage their frequent flyer miles. The new platform gives passengers the new option to spend miles on goods & services.

Operating a proof-of-concept consensus protocol, SIA has already performed several transactions with the platform to prove its stability. The practice tests were completed at Digital Village in Singapore. The KPMG managed system is now responsible for the first data trail set on Singapore Airline’s blockchain.

At the time of this writing there are close to twenty different partners using the merchant with Singapore Airlines to accept KrisPay tokens and miles at the time of the platform’s launch. Vendors include restaurants, retail companies, gas stations and others not yet announced.

Frequent flyers can download the wallet on iOS and Android, making it the first wallet to be exclusive to an airline. By using miles for purchases and to manage tokens, the integration into SIA’s existing platform is relatively simple. Members can now purchase a multitude of goods & services with the easy to use digital wallet.

KrisPay isn’t overly expensive either, with just 15 miles needed to complete the smallest purchases. Singapore is the only the first of many airlines with the same idea. More reports have been made on airports in several countries around the world incorporating blockchain technology. Some are not quite as ambitious as SIA, instead choosing to use already exiting blockchain technology like that of Ethereum’s.

As of now, the other known airline or airports to use blockchain technology or cryptocurrency are out of Australia, Germany, Switzerland and New Zealand. But these are just a handful of what is sure to be most major airports soon.

What do you think about SIA using blockchain technology and developing their own cryptocurrency? Is this a step in the right direction or at some point will there be too many currencies on the planet to use successfully? Leave your comments in the section below.