Emirates activates crypto payments for UAE bookings

Emirates has launched Crypto. com Pay across its website and mobile application, allowing eligible UAE residents to purchase flight tickets using cryptocurrency while the airline receives settlement in UAE dirhams.

The new payment option is available for bookings priced and settled in dirhams. Customers must hold a verified Crypto. com account and complete the transaction through the platform’s application. The rollout turns a memorandum of understanding signed by Emirates and Crypto. com in July 2025 into a functioning payment service in less than a year.

Passengers booking through the Emirates App can select Crypto. com Pay at checkout and will be redirected to the Crypto. com application to authorise payment from their digital-asset wallet. Once approval is completed, customers are returned to the airline’s application, where the booking confirmation and electronic ticket are issued.

Customers using the Emirates website will see a QR code after choosing Crypto. com Pay. They can scan the code with the Crypto. com application, review the transaction and authorise payment. The booking confirmation is generated after the transaction has been approved.

Although customers fund the purchase with digital assets, the ticket price and merchant settlement remain denominated in dirhams. This conversion structure limits Emirates’ direct exposure to cryptocurrency price fluctuations and avoids placing volatile digital assets on the airline’s balance sheet.

The service is initially restricted to eligible residents of the UAE and bookings settled in the local currency. Emirates has not disclosed which cryptocurrencies are supported, whether transaction limits apply or when access may be extended to customers in other markets.

Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ deputy president and chief commercial officer, said the launch expanded customer choice and responded to travellers who increasingly manage payments and travel arrangements through mobile devices.

“Bringing this initiative to life delivers on our commitment to expanding customer choice in how they pay for travel,” Kazim said. “It also reflects the rapidly evolving preferences of a younger, digitally fluent generation who manage their money and plan their journeys primarily from their phones.”

He said completing the integration within a year reflected the work undertaken by both companies and the regulatory environment supporting financial technology development across the UAE.

Crypto. com president and chief operating officer Eric Anziani described the Emirates partnership as a milestone for the company’s payment product. He said the integration demonstrated how regulated digital-asset platforms could connect cryptocurrency holdings with everyday commercial transactions.

The payment system is operated through Crypto. com’s Dubai entity, Foris DAX Middle East FZE. The company holds a Virtual Asset Service Provider licence from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and secured a Stored Value Facilities licence from the Central Bank of the UAE in May.

The central bank approval covers payment infrastructure connected to the domestic financial system. It permits customers to fund transactions with digital assets while merchants receive settlement in dirhams or approved dirham-backed instruments. The licensing process includes scrutiny of governance, anti-money-laundering controls, cybersecurity, transaction monitoring, customer-asset safeguards and operational resilience.

That regulatory structure separates the trading and exchange of virtual assets, supervised in Dubai by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, from payment and stored-value activities overseen by the central bank. The dual framework is designed to enable commercial use of digital assets without treating cryptocurrencies as legal tender.

The Emirates rollout also supports the Dubai Cashless Strategy, which seeks to make 90 per cent of transactions across government and private-sector services digital by the end of 2026. The programme forms part of the Dubai Economic Agenda D33, which aims to expand the emirate’s digital economy and strengthen its position as an international financial and technology centre.

Crypto. com has also worked with Dubai’s Department of Finance on infrastructure enabling cryptocurrency-funded payments for government services. Under that model, users pay through approved digital wallets while government departments receive the amount in dirhams.

Airlines have been testing digital currencies as an additional checkout option, particularly in markets with established licensing regimes. Air Arabia introduced payments using AE Coin, a dirham-backed stablecoin, for flight reservations, while international travel platforms and accommodation providers have also experimented with cryptocurrency-funded purchases.

For carriers, the attraction lies less in holding cryptocurrencies than in widening payment choice and reaching customers who keep part of their wealth in digital assets. Third-party processors manage conversion, compliance checks and settlement, reducing the operational risks that would arise if an airline accepted tokens directly.