Trip.com tests stablecoin payments overseas, offering USDT and USDC for prepaid bookings

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.\nThe 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.\nThe 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.\nA 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.\n\nTrip.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.\nTrip.com did not respond to a request for comment.\nThe move came as more Chinese tech firms tested stablecoin use-cases offshore, where tokens such as USDT and USDC have increasingly been used for payments and settlements in recent years.\nMore than US$10 billion worth of stablecoins was used for payments in August, more than double the US$4.3 billion recorded a year earlier, according to an October report by blockchain analytics firm Artemis.\nBusiness-to-business transfers accounted for most of that August total, the firm said.\nStablecoins’ total market value surpassed US$300 billion this year, with most tokens in circulation pegged to the US dollar.\nSeveral mainland Chinese tech firms, including fintech giant Ant Group and e-commerce group JD.com, also explored stablecoin initiatives in Hong Kong this year, as the city rolled out a licensing regime for stablecoin issuers in a bid to position itself as a digital asset hub. Ant Group is an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the Post.\nThose efforts, however, have faced a chill from Beijing.\nThe People’s Bank of China said in November that stablecoins did not meet the mainland’s anti-money-laundering requirements, dampening expectations that authorities might soften their long-running crackdown to keep pace with developments in the United States.\n