The thing about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is that it's decentralized by design. What this means, there is no middleman. As a result, transaction will have lower cost, faster and transparent.
The core technology behind them, is blockchain.
The technology facilitates secure online transactions by having distributed digital ledger that is used to record transactions across many computers. The ledger records transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way.
The technology has been used for recording events, transaction processing, documenting process and others, and it's seeing more grounds to cover as it's entering the travel industry.
In the recent years, the travel industry has been stagnant. While there are a number of startups, but only a few that control the market and all of the inventory (booking flights, hotel rooms reservation, etc.).
Besides that, there aren't that many innovations.
Platforms like Winding Tree, which is operated by a non-profit in Switzerland, is using the blockchain technology to potentially disrupt the travel industry.
Using blockchain, Winding Tree wants to decentralize the industry by removing the middlemen to lower costs, speed up transactions, and add transparency.
As a platform it represents the building blocks for suppliers and companies to build transactions on. So Winding Tree here doesn't aim for blockchain to be representing a new travel company or app for booking vacations, it’s far bigger in scope and ambition than simply competing with businesses.
For a blockchain to be used effectively, there are essentially two ways to do that.
First, it should be able to generate a lot of speculation money with the right marketing and good press coverage. The second way, is to cut the middlemen out of the equation, allowing people to make contracts without the need for trusts.
This is where Winding Tree is putting its role. By creating an open-source blockchain with its own token that supports a decentralized travel industry, it wants to put those like Expedia, Airbnb and others out of the picture. Using blockchain in the travel industry, users can do what they usually do before travelling, but without having to pay for those middlemen services, including Winding Tree itself.
In short, blockchain makes travelling cheaper for and more profitable for suppliers.
The only fees on the platform are the transaction costs to execute contracts, which fund miners. While there is still a price to pay, the cost isn't anywhere comparable to fees third-parties extract from travelers either directly or passed along through fares.
According to Pedro Anderson, founder and COO of Winding Tree: