Elrond, the high speed enterprise blockchain gearing up for its highly anticipated mainnet, has been enjoying a bumper month. Strong demand for participation in its incentivized testnet has been accompanied by payment integration with Travala.com. As a result, online travel bookings can be made using the native ERD token or Binance’s BUSD stablecoin which has been issued on the Elrond blockchain. Traders, testers and consumers alike have taken a pronounced interest in Elrond of late as the final pieces are laid in place for its mainnet launch.
Travala.com Welcomes Elrond Into the Fold
Travala.com, which recently merged with the Binance-backed TravelbyBit, has announced the integration of Elrond into its platform. The move means that Elrond assets, including ERD, can be used for purchasing flights via more than 600 airlines and accommodation at over 2 million hotels.
“The recent changes in travel habits put Travala.com and TravelbyBit in a very special position to offer users more convenient payment alternatives,” said Elrond CEO Beniamin Mincu. “We are very excited about this integration, which offers a great opportunity for the Elrond ecosystem, adding significant utility for the ERD currency.”
Mincu and his team have had little time in which to reflect on this latest milestone for the project, which entered the public’s consciousness one year ago when its initial exchange offering was conducted on Binance. Following the completion of the IEO, which like all Binance-backed token sales attracted intense interest from investors, the Elrond team got to work on completing the scalable blockchain they hope will power the next wave of dApps and enterprise applications.
The team has also launched a campaign with $5,000 worth of ERD tokens as rewards, called Elrond Amplify.
Battle of Nodes Heightens the Anticipation
Following the usual lull as Elrond’s engineers beavered away behind the scenes, the public checked in with the project again in October when the first of the ‘Battle of Nodes’ incentivized testnets began. The final event, ‘Onchained’, began this month, with $60,000 of rewards up for grabs. Participation in the gamified testnet, which presages the full mainnet launch, has been strong, attracting almost 1,700 validator nodes and more than 1,800 network peers.
The Battle of Nodes testnet culminates in a 15-day stress test in which its ability to operate in a high TPS environment, amidst adversarial conditions, will be established. Upon completion of the event, the date for the mainnet launch is expected to be announced, after which Elrond will begin the next phase of its work: attracting businesses and developers to build applications that run on its high speed blockchain.
The integration of Elrond into Travala.com is useful in demonstrating one of the many ways in which the network and its native asset can be deployed, while strengthening synergies between the Binance family of crypto companies: independent projects whose success story has intersected with the exchange giant somewhere along the way.
Travel the World With Crypto
The nomadic, globe-trotting life of many crypto proponents has meant that uptake of cryptocurrency payment options within the travel sector has been strong. Binance’s decision to acquire Travala.com via integrating it with TravelbyBit was greenlit despite the world being in lockdown at the time due to Covid-19.
Asia in particular has seen a slew of crypto integrations in the travel industry, where blockchain-based loyalty program MiL.k has partnered with leading travel companies and Singapore carpooling app Ryde has integrated BTC payments. Elrond’s integration with Travala.com is thus as timely as it is useful, providing a further demonstration of the utility of crypto payments in a hyperconnected world.