AI Agents Can Now Book Hotels and Pay With Crypto

Juan Otero, CEO of Travala, joins CoinDesk’s Jennifer Sanasie on Markets Outlook to explain how the company’s new AI travel agent lets you book any of 2.2 million hotels in more than 230 countries just by chatting. Otero walks through how Travala uses BNB Chain’s machine payment protocol for gasless transactions and Binance Pay for settlement. Plus, he lays out the bigger plan: a future where agents anywhere can book hotels, flights, activities and car rentals on crypto rails. - This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com. - Digital asset vaults are growing rapidly, but understanding the risks behind them requires more than on-chain data. S&P Global Ratings' Vault Risk Assessment (VRA) delivers independent, forward-looking insight into vault credit quality, governance, and risk management, helping bring institutional-grade risk transparency to digital asset markets. Learn more at https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/products/vault-risk-assessments. - Learn more about CoinDesk Data & Indices at coindesk.com/institutions. - Timecodes: 00:00 - Travala’s Juan Otero Joins Markets Outlook 01:51 - Travala’s AI Travel Agent 02:25 - How AI Agents Pay With BNB Chain’s Machine Payment Protocol 03:16 - Why BNB Chain and Binance Pay? 04:17 - Booking a Hotel by Chatting With an Agent 07:05 - Can You Trust an AI Agent With Your Wallet? 08:00 - Crypto Rewards vs. Credit Card Points 09:29 - Who Is Travala’s AI Agent For? 11:12 - The Future of Agentic Travel on Crypto Rails - #digitalfinance #finance #bitcoin Subscribe to CoinDesk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CoinDesk?sub_confirmation=1 CoinDesk is the leading digital media, events and information services company for the crypto asset and blockchain technology community. Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/coindesk LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coindesk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coindesk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoinDesk Newsletters: https://www.coindesk.com/newsletters CoinDesk Podcast Network: https://open.spotify.com/show/2jyIhkvAQhed8AWDZiPpSP Public Keys: https://open.spotify.com/show/1rqYzRV10nfKfoTpFXZhTE Markets Daily Crypto Roundup: https://open.spotify.com/show/7sDXM8BlxsUqzL2IqmLqwE The Policy Protocol: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Fh8ffulAWcCqMu0uVuwoj