Airbnb plans IPO and suggests Bitcoin integration

The accommodation portal Airbnb is planning to go public and indicates a crypto integration in the IPO application.

Hardly any other industry has as difficult to nibble at the pandemic as the tourism industry. Due to contact restrictions and travel bans, the globetrotter industry, which has been booming in recent years, has come to a standstill practically overnight. Despite the successes in vaccine research, it is also more than questionable whether unrestricted travel will be possible in the coming year. With numerous hoteliers and travel companies on the brink of collapse, Airbnb’s planned IPO appears all the more astonishing. But the Silicon-Vallye company is strategically aligning itself for the future and has indicated an integration of Bitcoin and Co.

Airbnb wants to reinvent itself

As astonishing as the current step may seem against the background of worldwide travel warnings, the message did not fall from the sky. Rumors of an IPO have been around since 2017. However, the date was repeatedly postponed until last year it was time to say 2020. On November 16, the company finally got it right and filed its IPO filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As can be seen in the application, the company is undergoing a structural change with the IPO. They want to react to the future requirements and challenges of the tourism industry and integrate new technological standards into the youth hostel model:

If we are unable to adapt to changes in technology and the evolving needs of hosts and guests, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially affected.

The platform should gradually develop into a “service-oriented architecture” and thus make it future-proof. The success of AirBnb depends largely on the willingness to “adapt the platform to evolving industry standards and local preferences”. By adapting and improving services and offers to the requirements of guests and hosts, the company wants to position itself competitively in the market.

Bitcoin payments soon possible?

One of these requirements also seems to be the increasing demand for payment options with cryptocurrencies:

Our future success will also depend on our ability to adapt to new technologies such as tokenization, cryptocurrencies, new authentication technologies such as biometrics, distributed ledger and blockchain technologies, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and cloud technologies.

In order not to oversleep these trends, Airbnb is planning costly investments in the expansion and further development of the platform. In concrete terms, the company is still keeping a low profile. With regard to crypto integration, it would be more than astonishing if at least the number 1, Bitcoin, is not to be found among the payment modalities in the future.

Picture by Pixabay