An 18-year-old booking a private jet with cryptocurrency makes an easy headline — and it upends the standard image of private aviation: no family office, no broker and no bank transfer.

Booking data from Mirai Flights, an international private-jet booking platform, shows that 44% of its customers were between 18 and 30 years old at their first purchase, while cryptocurrency accounted for 18% of the platform's completed orders. The highest rate of crypto payments, however, belonged to customers aged 30 to 40. The two datasets are distinct: the age figure describes first purchases, while the payment figure spans all completed orders, and together they sketch a customer base that looks younger and more digitally native than its stereotype.

Who Leads Crypto Use?

Mirai's app counts more than 220,000 users. Within that base, 44% made their first purchase between the ages of 18 and 30, another 33.2% were 30 to 40, and just 4% were older than 50. The median age at a first booking was approximately 31.

When the company matched payment method against customer age, crypto appeared in 12% of payments from the 18-to-30 group. The share climbed to 18.5% among customers aged 30 to 40, then declined to 13.2% for those aged 40 to 50 and 5.6% among customers over 50. The peak-adopting 30-to-40 band is also the platform's second-largest first-purchase cohort, so the strongest crypto usage overlaps with a sizable slice of the customer base.

The numbers move the crypto story away from the youngest buyers and toward customers in their thirties. Mirai's records capture only the payment method chosen at checkout; they do not explain why a customer selected it.

Crypto Accounted for 18% of Orders

Mirai's full payment mix puts the crypto figure in proportion. Mirai Wallet or bank transfer accounted for 30% of orders, and card payments processed through Stripe represented another 30%. Crypto followed at 18%, American Express at 13%, and a separate Visa and Mastercard flow at 9% — placing crypto as the platform's third-most-used payment rail.

Crypto checkout is also spreading into more conventional commerce. A January 2026 survey released by PayPal and the National Cryptocurrency Association found that 39% of 619 U.S. merchant payment decision-makers said their companies already accepted crypto, with the strongest reported interest coming from hospitality and travel. That figure rests on a self-reported merchant survey covering four crypto-relevant sectors, not a transaction audit, so it cannot be compared directly with Mirai's completed-order share, which reflects actual payment choices made at checkout at a single merchant.

Mirai Brings Crypto Checkout to the U.S.

Mirai extended its app to the United States earlier this year. Version updates beginning in March added dollar pricing alongside euros and invited users to browse available U.S. flights. The U.S. App Store listing now presents cryptocurrency alongside cards and Apple Pay and says the marketplace provides aircraft access in more than 60 countries.

American users therefore see the same checkout design built for Mirai's international customer base: multiple payment rails attached to a single aircraft search. Neither the age nor the payment figures are broken out by region, so the U.S. contribution to the crypto share cannot yet be read from them.

After checkout, the aviation itself is unchanged. An operator supplies the aircraft and crew, confirms the schedule and completes the trip. Crypto alters only the payment step.

Taken together, Mirai's records depict a customer base younger than the category's stereotype and a meaningful share of orders settled in crypto, with buyers in their thirties reaching for it most often. For Mirai's U.S. customers, crypto now sits beside cards and Apple Pay as a standard checkout option.

Source: Blocktelegraph