Singapore Airlines announced Monday that it's working on what it calls the world's first blockchain-based airline loyalty digital wallet that will help unlock the value of frequent flyer miles to enable everyday spending at retail partners.

"Innovation has been a key contributor to the success of Singapore Airlines since day one and we are very excited about this world-first initiative, which will bring even more benefits to members of our KrisFlyer program," Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said in a press release.

Monday's announcement followed what Singapore Airlines called a successful proof-of-concept exercise carried out in collaboration with KPMG Digital Village and Microsoft.

A forthcoming KrisFlyer digital wallet app, using blockchain technology, is expected to be rolled out in about six months. It will enable the extensive KrisFlyer membership base to use 'digital KrisFlyer miles' for point-of-sale transactions at participating retail merchants.

Singapore Airlines said it is in the process of signing up merchants to accept miles.