Emirates Starts Taking Crypto Payments for Flights via Crypto.com

Dubai's 90% cashless target

Emirates said in a 28 Jul statement that the rollout of the payment arrangement on Crypto.com Pay follows a July 2025 memorandum of understanding between the United Arab Emirates airline and the crypto exchange. It comes as Dubai, home to the world's busiest airport for international passengers, according to Airports Council International, pushes to make cashless transactions the norm and to position itself as a virtual-assets hub.

The move reflects the "rapidly evolving preferences" of a mobile-phone customer base that is younger and "digitally fluent," said Adnan Kazim, Emirates' deputy president and chief commercial officer.

The launch supports the Dubai Cashless Strategy under the D33 Economic Agenda, which aims to make 90% of all financial transactions across the government and private sectors digital by the end of 2026.

Licensed for stored value

Customers pay from a Crypto.com wallet, but the booking itself is priced and settled in dirhams.

Crypto.com has said the conversion runs on its platform licensed by Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. The exchange's UAE entity, Foris DAX Middle East FZE, was the first virtual asset service provider (VASP) to be granted a Stored Value Facilities (SVF) licence by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), which approved it in May following in-principle approval in October 2025.

SVF licences allow non-bank firms to operate e-wallets, issue prepaid cards and hold customer funds for payments.

Founded in 2016, Crypto.com says it has more than 150mn verified global users. It handled about $683mn in spot trading volume in the 24 hours to 03:30UTC on 29 Jul, according to CoinGecko.

Emirates, which says it was the world's most profitable airline in the 2025–26 financial year, reported record revenue of 130.9bn dirhams ($35.7bn) for the year to 31 Mar, up 2%.