Travala Launches Permanent AVA Strategic Reserve, Doubles Monthly Open-Market Buybacks
Singapore, Singapore, September 23rd, 2026, Chainwire
More travel bookings → more member givebacks → more open-market AVA buybacks → more AVA permanently locked. A new matching structure doubles monthly open-market buyback volume, building a reserve Travala has committed never to sell or transfer.
Travala, the leading crypto-native travel booking platform, and the AVA Foundation today announced a new matching buyback structure for the AVA token. The initiative introduces a new Travala-funded buyback operating independently and in addition to the AVA Foundation’s existing rewards-replenishment buyback, doubling monthly open-market buyback volume. The matched AVA will be transferred to a Strategic Reserve that Travala has committed never to sell or transfer.
Each month, the AVA Foundation replenishes the prior month’s AVA givebacks by repurchasing the exact quantity of AVA distributed to AVA Smart Program members on the open market, token for token, and transferring those tokens back into the Ecosystem Incentives Wallet, an established pillar of the AVA rewards model. To date, a total of 4,824,722 AVA has been repurchased through historical buybacks to replenish AVA rewards distributed to AVA Smart members.
Starting now, Travala will independently match that same amount every month, buying back an equal quantity of AVA on the open market and transferring it to the new Travala AVA Strategic Reserve Wallet, secured through multi-signature custody. Travala has committed that AVA held in the Reserve will never be sold or transferred out. Both buybacks are separately verifiable on-chain.
Together, the two mechanisms double monthly open-market buyback volume to 2x the volume of AVA Smart member givebacks, up from 1x previously. While the Foundation’s buyback replenishes the rewards pool, Travala’s matching buyback permanently removes the matched amount from circulating supply under Travala’s commitment never to sell or transfer the tokens.
The inaugural Travala Monthly AVA Buyback has already been completed. Following the AVA Foundation’s September buyback of 369,881.04 AVA for August AVA Smart member givebacks, Travala independently matched the amount with an additional 369,881.04 AVA open-market buyback. Together, the two buybacks resulted in 739,762.08 AVA being repurchased from the open market, with Travala’s 369,881.04 AVA allocation transferred to the new AVA Strategic Reserve Wallet, where it will remain permanently outside circulating supply under Travala’s commitment never to sell or transfer the tokens. The Reserve is publicly verifiable on-chain at 0x7bed1889c21d9eb3560463c14cd74fe29f2d03b6.
“AVA is at the center of everything we’re building at Travala,” said Juan Otero, CEO of Travala. “It’s how our community is rewarded and how they engage with the platform every day. This matching buyback reflects just how integral AVA is to our ecosystem, and we’re proud to make that commitment permanent and fully verifiable for the community that’s built this with us.”
The mechanism scales directly with platform activity: higher AVA Smart member givebacks result in larger AVA Foundation buybacks and, through Travala’s matching structure, larger Travala open-market buybacks and additional AVA being permanently locked in the Strategic Reserve.
Because AVA transferred into the AVA Strategic Reserve Wallet is permanently locked under Travala’s commitment never to sell or transfer the tokens, each monthly allocation is removed from circulating supply and excluded from AVA’s official circulating supply via the AVA circulating supply API. Travala will also submit the Reserve wallet address to CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko for treatment as non-circulating under their respective methodologies.
Every transfer across both wallets is verifiable on-chain, and Travala and the AVA Foundation will report both buyback figures publicly each month going forward. Each monthly Travala buyback will be executed after the AVA Foundation’s giveback figure for the prior month has been published.
This announcement follows AVA’s recent listing on Bithumb’s KRW market, expanding direct access for Korean traders and adding a new venue alongside AVA’s existing exchange footprint.
Travala was also recently named by Amazon Web Services as a customer case study for the general availability launch of its Bedrock AgentCore payments platform, with CEO Juan Otero quoted on how the integration streamlines agentic, conversational booking across Travala’s inventory of more than 2.2 million hotels globally.
About Travala
Founded in 2017 and now backed by industry giant Binance, Travala is the leading crypto-native travel booking service, offering 2,200,000+ properties across 230 countries, 600+ airlines, 50,000+ car rental locations, and 400,000+ activities globally. Travala is a champion of cryptocurrency adoption, accepting over 100 leading cryptocurrencies alongside traditional payment methods. In addition to unbeatable prices via its Best Price Guarantee, Smart members on Travala can also enjoy additional discounts and loyalty rewards for eligible bookings made on the platform. For more information about Travala, visit: www.travala.com.
About AVA Foundation
The AVA Foundation oversees the AVA token ecosystem, including the AVA Smart Program, AVA token, and Travel Tiger NFTs. The AVA token functions as the key to accessing the AVA Smart Program, which provides travel perks and other benefits to Travala customers, such as AVA payment discounts, AVA loyalty rewards, gated access benefits, and more. AVA tokenises the concept of loyalty reward programs using blockchain technology, bringing web3 to traditional loyalty models. For more information, visit: www.avafoundation.org