What Winding Tree does

Winding Tree was a Zug, Switzerland-based open-source initiative that built a blockchain-based decentralized marketplace intended to connect travel suppliers (airlines, hotels) directly with travel sellers/agents without a central intermediary extracting monopolistic rents. Its technical foundation was Ethereum smart contracts supporting booking, immediate payment settlement, and self-sovereign identity management. The core product, branded WIN, was a fully smart-contract-based hotel booking website that enabled cryptocurrency payments and was piloted with DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam in 2022. A separate subsidiary, Simard, was created to deliver a two-sided corporate travel marketplace for Ernst & Young (handling over $1B in annual employee travel spend), which reached working-product status with audit and revenue before being cancelled following an EY management change. An Air Canada partnership explored blockchain-based airline distribution for travel agents.

The business model never matured commercially. Winding Tree was funded by a 2018 token sale (ICO) and a $1.5M seed round from Haitao Capital in 2017, operating as a non-profit with 1–10 employees. The WIN pilot explicitly charged no commission and offered a 50% hotel discount to test technical feasibility; no SaaS, transaction, or listing pricing model was ever established. Distribution relied on conference presence (Phocuswright Europe, ETH Barcelona, EthCC Paris), blog content, and open-source developer engagement via GitHub. On July 16, 2024, CEO Maksim Izmaylov announced the project was frozen, citing the crypto industry's failure to deliver mainstream UX and travel executives' reluctance to engage with blockchain-based systems despite years of education efforts.

Name

Winding Tree

Website

https://windingtree.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Winding Tree built an open-source blockchain-based decentralized marketplace for the travel industry, connecting suppliers and sellers via smart contracts to eliminate aggregator commissions, but wound down in July 2024 after failing to achieve product-market fit.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Travel Technology Platform

NAICS

Travel Agencies (561510), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200), Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Booking Engines & Direct Web Booking (THALACAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Alternative Payments & Digital Wallet Acceptance (A2A, RTP, wallets) (THALAHAH), Payments, Remittances & Merchant Acceptance (checkout, invoicing, payroll) (FSAPAEAE), Smart Contract Wallets / Account Abstraction (MPC/AA, social recovery, paymasters) (FSAPACAB), Account Abstraction & Smart Wallet Tooling (AA SDKs, paymasters, session keys) (FSAPABAK)

Keywords

• Decentralized travel marketplace
• Blockchain booking platform
• Smart contract payments
• Travel supplier connectivity
• Open source travel infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

Zug

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Winding Tree built an open-source, blockchain-based decentralized marketplace platform that connected travel suppliers (hotels, airlines) and sellers (travel agents, OTAs) directly, bypassing traditional aggregators. The platform used smart contracts for booking and immediate payment settlement, and incorporated self-sovereign identity management. A consumer-facing sub-product, WIN, was a smart-contract-based hotel booking website that enabled crypto payments for hotel reservations.

Product overview

Winding Tree was a single unified product platform — a blockchain-based decentralized marketplace for the travel industry. The core offering consisted of the Winding Tree platform itself (open-source infrastructure for connecting travel suppliers and sellers) and WIN, a smart-contract-based hotel booking application built on top of this infrastructure. The platform was designed to eliminate middlemen commissions (15-25%) in travel by enabling direct airline and hotel bookings through blockchain technology. The project is now frozen as of July 2024, with no product-market fit achieved.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• WIN: A fully smart-contract-based hotel booking website that allowed crypto users to book hotels with blockchain technology.

Products and services

• Winding Tree Platform A blockchain-based decentralized travel marketplace designed to connect travel suppliers and sellers without placing the platform in a monopolistic position. Built as open-source infrastructure for the travel industry using smart contracts for booking and payment settlement.
• WIN (Winding Tree) A fully smart-contract-based hotel booking website that allowed crypto users to book hotels using cryptocurrency. Tested with DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam during Blockchain Week Amsterdam 2022 with a 50% discount off market rate.

Quantifiable outcome

• 50% commission savings for hotels during WIN pilot program
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Air CanadaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2025Air Canada partnered with Winding Tree to test a blockchain-based air travel marketplace, following similar collaborations by other major airlines. The platform aimed to facilitate direct airline bookings for travel agents, offering enhanced personalization, immediate payment settlement, and greater market competition.
• Ernst & Young (EY)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEY approached Winding Tree to create a two-sided marketplace serving thousands of employees who collectively spend over a billion dollars on travel annually. A separate company called Simard was formed to handle the project, contracts were signed with suppliers, and extensive audits were completed. The project was canceled after management change at EY despite achieving working product status with transactions and revenue.
• SimardcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSeparate company created by Winding Tree to work with EY, formed specifically because many firms were hesitant to associate with crypto-related projects. Underwent extensive audits and achieved working product status before EY project cancellation.
• DoubleTree by Hilton AmsterdamminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHotel partner for WIN blockchain booking pilot during Blockchain Week Amsterdam 2022. Provided 50% discount off market rate and participated in testing blockchain-based booking system with crypto payment capability.
• Travala.comminorOthersMentioned as another company implementing blockchain solutions in the travel sector; comparable approach to decentralized travel bookings.
• SITA/British AirwaysminorOthersMentioned as major airline implementing blockchain solutions for baggage tracking and other travel operations.
• TUI GroupminorOthersMajor travel company mentioned as implementing blockchain solutions in the tourism sector.
• PhysicAIminorOthersCompany mentioned as implementing blockchain solutions for travel applications.

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Travala.com: Crypto-native travel booking platform accepting dozens of cryptocurrencies for hotel and flight bookings. Most directly comparable peer as it pursues the same decentralized travel-booking thesis Winding Tree championed.
• Dtravel: Decentralized, blockchain-powered home-sharing and short-term rental marketplace. Comparable as a peer-to-peer travel accommodation platform using crypto payments and disintermediation of established platforms.
• LockTrip: Blockchain-based hotel and vacation rental marketplace using smart contracts to eliminate intermediaries and reduce commissions. Directly comparable disintermediation model for travel bookings.

Emerging players

• Blockskye: Blockchain-based corporate travel management platform leveraging distributed ledger for booking, settlement, and reconciliation. Closely aligned with Winding Tree's Simard/EY corporate travel use case.

Broad incumbents

• Booking.com: Largest global online travel agency and the incumbent aggregator Winding Tree sought to disintermediate. Relevant as the dominant commission-charging middleman whose economics the open-source model attacked.
• Expedia Group: Major online travel conglomerate operating multiple booking brands globally. Winding Tree's mission explicitly targeted the oligopolistic commission structure that Expedia and similar OTAs enforce.
• Amadeus: Global travel technology provider powering airline and hotel distribution, including GDS and corporate booking tools. Relevant as the legacy infrastructure layer Winding Tree aimed to replace with open-source alternatives.
• Travelport: Global distribution system and travel commerce platform serving airlines, hotels, and travel agents. Comparable as part of the incumbent distribution stack that blockchain-based platforms like Winding Tree sought to bypass.
• Sabre Corporation: Travel technology company providing GDS, airline, and hospitality solutions including direct-connect alternatives. Represents the incumbent airline-IT ecosystem Winding Tree's smart-contract settlement model challenged.
• Trip.com Group: Major global online travel agency operating Ctrip, Trip.com, Skyscanner, and other consumer brands. Comparable as a large-scale OTA whose dominance Winding Tree's decentralized model was designed to offset.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/windingtree
• Xx.com/windingtree
• Facebookfacebook.com/WindingTree

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Winding Tree