Coras aims to reinvent travel loyalty with launch of new DeFi token

Coras , a Dublin-based company that enables online brands to sell tickets for events and attractions, is launching a loyalty token platform with its first brand partner, Rakuten Tickets.

The platform, known as Fida , provides the infrastructure for brands of any kind to issue their own blockchain-based loyalty tokens to their customers. Unlike traditional loyalty points, these tokens - built on the ERC-20 standard of the Ethereum network - are transferable, interoperable, provide instant liquidity and never expire.

Consumers who make a purchase on Rakuten Tickets in the United Kingdom and Spain will receive instructions to set up their digital wallet that is used to track, exchange and transfer tokens.

For the initial launch with Rakuten, consumers will receive Fida tokens, but CEO Mark McLaughlin says this is intended to demonstrate how the system works so in the future brands – including travel suppliers such as hotels – can launch their own tokens that function in the same way.

“This will act as a roadmap, a demonstration of how a brand’s token will work,” McLaughlin says.

“And brands are much more open to that because they can see the end-to-end flow without any risk.”

McLaughlin believes this type of decentralized, interoperable, transferable token is the future for loyalty programs across any sector and can become a differentiator for brands that offer it.

“It becomes an incentive for consumers to buy from you, which is what loyalty really is … and the smart brands are really beginning to understand they need to at least experiment with this type of interoperable loyalty,” he says.

McLaughlin says the Fida token solution is immediately available for brands that currently use Coras’ ticketing API, including Ryanair, Frontier Airlines and Staycity Aparthotels, and he is in talks with several other travel brands, including a large airline, that may come on board soon.

McLaughlin says later this year the system will enable redemption, so customers can use their tokens to purchase goods and services.

In December 2021, McLaughlin participated in a PhocusWire Pulse event on loyalty to discuss initial plans for Fida. Watch the full interview below.