Latvian airline airBaltic now takes payments in Dogecoin

Passengers travelling with airBaltic can now buy their tickets using the alternative cryptocurrency Dogecoin, the Latvian airline company has announced.

Hailed by American Tesla founder Elon Musk, who has contributed to Dogecoin’s rising popularity, the cryptocurrency had originally been created as a joke and attracted a devoted following thanks to its logo — a viral 2013 meme that features a Shiba Inu dog known as “doge” — and its strong commitment to online humour. Dogecoin registers an increase in value every time Musk tweets about it.

AirBaltic is currently the only airline company accepting Dogecoin. The airline company was also the first in the world to accept payments in Bitcoin back in 2014. In addition to these two cryptocurrencies, airBaltic also accepts Ethereum, and four USD-pegged stablecoins – Gemini dollar, USD Coin, Paxos Standard Token, and Binance USD.

Accepting cryptocurrencies is generally considered risky for airlines, because of their big shifts in value. But airBaltic has paired up with the provider BitPay, which transfers the payment as Euros.

The airline’s CEO Martin Gauss revealed that since 2014, around 1,000 clients have used crypto currencies to purchase flights.