Trip.com has started to allow some overseas users to pay for prepaid hotel and flight bookings with the stablecoins USDT and USDC – also known as Tether and USD Coin – in a sign of growing acceptance of the US dollar-pegged tokens.
The Shanghai-based online travel group enabled stablecoin payments on October 9, according to a customer service agent, with the option appearing for users in certain regions when they booked prepaid deals through Trip.com’s international platform.
The move – which comes even as Beijing maintains a hard line on crypto-related activity – was first reported by Chinese blockchain-focused news outlet Foresight News last week.
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A Foresight reporter said that he was able to book a hotel and a flight using USDT while in Vietnam. He pointed out that both bookings were cheaper than on Ctrip, Trip.com’s mainland China-facing app.
Trip.com did not offer stablecoin payments to users in mainland China and some other markets, the customer service agent said, adding that the option was displayed based on a user’s IP address. The payment option did not appear in Hong Kong, the Post found.
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Trip.com did not respond to a request for comment.