The crypto industry is no stranger to strategic partnerships, and to the string of previous alliances, we can now add a new trifecta. In this instance, the accord has been struck by blockchain rewards integration platform MiL.k, South Korea’s largest online travel agency Yanolja, and long-established crypto exchange Bithumb.
As part of the new business and marketing partnership, each company will pool resources and share infrastructure to promote their respective services. MiL.k and Yanolja already have a degree of familiarity: since April, Yanolja members have been able to connect the Yanolja app to the MiL.k app, enabling them to earn rewards and participate in MiL.k promotions.
While the existing audience of MiL.k and Bithumb is mostly crypto natives, Yanolja has many non-crypto clients which its partners will hope to onboard. Last year, the booking platform achieved a valuation of $1 billion and has had a banner 2020, with revenue growth of over 70% for the fifth consecutive year.
One Loyalty Platform to Rule Them All
MiL.k operates in the travel, lifestyle and leisure sectors, and aims to streamline existing mileage and loyalty programs via a native crypto token, Milk Coin (MLK). Within the MiL.k ecosystem, the digital asset can be traded, used to purchase discounted rewards, and even converted into fiat currency via supporting crypto exchanges.
With the global market for loyalty programs expected to hit $201 billion by 2022, MiL.k intends to capitalize by partnering with global service providers such as hotels, airlines and Duty-Free retailers. Recently, the project launched a coupon payment feature for Jin Air, Korea’s second-largest low-cost carrier, and a new staking service called MiL.k Pack has also gone live on the app’s wallet.
“We are expecting to meet more users through this partnership,” said Jayden Jo, CEO of MiL.k. “As a blockchain-based platform, we will try our best to benefit many kinds of users that are either crypto or non-crypto. MiL.k will keep adding more services on its platform app by making more alliance partnerships, and this will be beyond borders.”
Prior to the partnership, the MLK token was available for trading on Singapore exchange KuCoin and South Korea platform Upbit. With Bithumb now onboard, the MLK token will be available to an extra eight million registered users. Bithumb and Upbit are South Korea’s largest crypto exchanges by daily trade volume.
MiL.k Is Coming to China
In a recent AMA, Jayden Jo suggested that MiL.k’s token would soon be available to trade in China and that more domestic and international partners would join the ecosystem. “Our vision as a company, and as a project, is to bridge blockchain technology to everyday lives,” he explained. “We will do our best to prove the mass adoption of the technology by offering beneficial service to our users.”
While the three companies are tight-lipped about the specificities of the agreement, it is likely that MiL.k will be more deeply integrated into Yanolja’s core infrastructure, while Bithumb will promote adoption of the cryptocurrency.