Cryptocurrency-supporting travel agency Travala recently announced on the X platform that it has achieved a milestone of over $100 million in annual revenue, expanding the adoption of cryptocurrency in the travel industry, and announcing its reserve strategy for its native token AVA and Bitcoin.

Last night (11th), Binance founder CZ (Changpeng Zhao) retweeted this news, quickly bringing Travala's achievements into the market spotlight, driving the price of AVA to surge.

CZ: We invested in Travala before the pandemic

According to CZ's post, he stated:

We invested in this crypto travel platform before COVID and before the crypto winter, and we stuck with it.

This means that Binance invested in Travala as early as the end of 2019 and has been supporting the development of this crypto travel startup.

Travala is an online travel agency (OTA) that supports cryptocurrency payments, offering flight, accommodation, and activity booking services. The platform accepts over 100 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and its native token AVA, while also supporting fiat payments. Travala combines blockchain technology to provide users with a transparent and efficient travel booking experience, encouraging the use of cryptocurrency in the global travel market.

Travala was founded in 2017, initially operating on the NEO blockchain and migrating its platform to Binance Chain at the end of 2019.

Revenue surge driven by flight and hotel bookings

Regarding the revenue exceeding $100 million, Travala co-founder and CEO Juan Otero stated that this achievement is primarily attributed to the surge in flight and hotel bookings. This marks a significant increase compared to the $59.6 million revenue in 2023.

Looking back at history, Travala's annual revenue was about $4.4 million in 2020, then surged by 830% in the bull market of 2021, reaching $41 million. In 2022, annual total revenue further climbed to $60.5 million but slightly declined in 2023.

Travala establishes AVA and Bitcoin reserves

In addition to the revenue milestone, Travala also launched a reserve plan for AVA and Bitcoin to provide additional financial resources for the company's long-term goals.

Otero stated that Travala CEO Otero, in an interview with Cointelegraph, said that as the company's resources increase, they plan to bring in new talent and launch more incentive programs on the platform. He further pointed out:

"We will strategically manage our reserve funds. As the cryptocurrency ecosystem matures, we hope to be able to use the reserved crypto assets directly in the future without needing to convert them to fiat currency."

Otero also mentioned that as the business and market mature further, they may consider including other tokens in the reserve funds in the future.

However, Travala did not disclose the size of the Bitcoin and AVA reserves at the start.

AVA surges over 3 times

After CZ's retweet, the price of AVA quickly rose. According to CoinGecko data, the price of AVA soared from $0.7647 to $2.8 in less than 30 minutes, reaching a near 24-hour high of $3.38 at 5:30 AM, the highest since November 2021, with a cumulative increase of 342%.

Before the deadline, the price of AVA is reported at $2.63, an increase of 258.7% in the last 24 hours.