Emirates, the Dubai-based flagship carrier, has launched Crypto.com Pay on its website and app, enabling eligible United Arab Emirates residents make flight bookings with cryptocurrencies, the airline said Tuesday.
Mobile users are sent to the Crypto.com app to authorize payment from their wallet, while desktop customers scan a QR code at checkout, the companies said in an announcement. Emirates settles in UAE dirhams rather than holding crypto, with Crypto.com handling the conversion.
The move “reflects the rapidly evolving preferences of a younger, digitally fluent generation who manage their money and plan their journeys primarily from their phones,” said Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ deputy president and chief commercial officer. Neither company indicated whether they would expand the Emirates service beyond eligible UAE residents.
The launch implements a partnership first announced in July 2025. Cointelegraph reported in May that Crypto.com had received a UAE central bank Stored Value Facilities (SVF) license, which the company said at the time could support integrations with Emirates and Dubai Duty Free.
An SVF license allows non-bank companies to hold customers’ money or crypto in a digital wallet and process payments under central bank oversight. It lets customers fund payments with cryptocurrencies while merchants receive dirhams or approved dirham-backed stablecoins.
According to CoinGecko, Crypto.com handled around $686 million in trading volume in the 24 hours up to the time of writing.
Emirates is not the region’s first airline to add a crypto checkout option. Air Arabia began accepting the dirham-backed AE Coin stablecoin for flight bookings in May 2025.
Related: Bhutan launches tourism crypto payments with Binance Pay and DK Bank
