Dear Industry, Please accept Crypto Currency. 

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Recently, my customer came to me with a request to arrange a charter flight, I used my platform, generated a quote and the customer confirmed, with enough notice. I got paid more than 2 weeks ahead, and as per our policy, we processed the payment to the operator 3 working days prior to flight. 

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The transaction had gone through my account, but the money had not arrived at the operator’s account. Rightfully, securing funds is in the operator's interest, so the operator requested a credit card hold. It was a significant amount of money and my Credit Cards did not have sufficient funds to cover the hold. So I scrambled among friends and associates to secure their cards for the hold. It was embarrassing and utterly frustrating, not only for me but also for the operator as they had to make multiple payment links to break down the amount, after multiple attempts we got the hold through. The flight went through, and everything was on time, without the client knowing about any struggles. As fate will have it, the payment arrived at the operator's account right after the flight departed. 

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I did have all forms and mode of payment and but I asked the operator if they would accept crypto, they told me they were not in that “kind” of business. If they had accepted crypto, my experience would have been entirely different. 

Why should operators accept Crypto Payments? 

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The answer is simple, it is currently the fastest form of international payment. Swift takes 24 hours at the least, and if you are transacting over the weekend, it could take over 5 days, it is not the most business-friendly form of payment.  

But what about Volatility? Cant we lose money? 

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No. If you transfer using stablecoins pegged to the USD or GBP, the volatility is similar to that of Fiat currency. However ,if you do transfer in other meme-coins or Bitcoin, there could be significant volatility. At Tribe, we try to stay away from these volatile currencies. 

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How do you accept Crypto? 

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We invested heavily in doing our due diligence on accepting cryptocurrencies. We are one of the very few private aviation businesses that has a commercial on-ramp account, allowing us to legitimately accept and transfer crypto payments. When a customer makes a crypto payment to us, we receive it instantly. If our operator and the industry start accepting payments in crypto, we will be able to transact faster. 

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What about charges? 

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Crypto payments are far cheaper than FIat, because there are no clearing and intermediary banks. Especially when doing larger transactions in Stable Coins. 

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What about KYC, Sanctions and Anti Money Laundering? 

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In private aviation, KYC and Sanctions are applicable both at the ultimate-beneficiary level and payer level. Tribe Aviation does due diligence on the type of customer it onboard, making sure that they we know our customers. The operator also makes sure of KYC and AML requirements on their end. Therefore regardless of the form of payment, KYC is done at the transactional level, rather than at the payment level. 

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The private aviation industry thrives on speed, efficiency, and client satisfaction. Embracing cryptocurrency payments allows us to deliver on all three. By incorporating crypto into our financial systems, we can eliminate unnecessary delays, reduce costs, and provide a smoother, more seamless experience for our clientele.

It's time for the private aviation industry to take flight into the future of finance. Let's embrace crypto payments and unlock a new era of efficiency and convenience.

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