Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi mentioned the ride-hailing big is exploring the usage of crypto as a fee technique, which marks the third time the corporate has made the declare since 2021.
Talking Thursday on the Bloomberg Tech convention in San Francisco, Khosrowshahi mentioned the corporate is within the “study phase” of evaluating stablecoins for operational use.
“I think stablecoins are one of the more interesting instantiations of crypto that have a practical benefit beyond being a store of value,” Khosrowshahi mentioned.
Uber was an early member of the Diem Affiliation (previously Libra), becoming a member of in 2019 to assist Meta’s now-defunct stablecoin initiative geared toward reshaping world funds.
“You can have your opinions on Bitcoin, it’s a proven commodity, and people differ on where it’s going. But stablecoins seems quite promising, especially for global companies moving money around internationally,” Khosrowshahi continued on Thursday. “That’s super interesting to us, and we’re definitely going to take a look.”
The remarks echo what Khosrowshahi instructed CNBC in September 2021, when he mentioned Uber would “look into” accepting BTC and different cryptocurrencies as fee.
On the time, he dismissed any plans to place crypto on the corporate’s steadiness sheet, saying, “We are going to keep our cash safe.”
Later, in February 2022, Khosrowshahi instructed Bloomberg that the corporate would “absolutely” settle for cryptocurrencies as a type of fee at “some point” sooner or later, however emphasised that the time wasn’t proper but.
“We’re having conversations all the time,” Khosrowshahi mentioned on the time. “As the exchange mechanism becomes less expensive and becomes more environmentally friendly, I think you will see us leaning into crypto a little bit more.”
When he made crypto-related feedback in 2021, BTC traded flat for the subsequent three months.
Nevertheless, his February 2022 feedback got here weeks earlier than the start of an industry-shaking main market correction, which kicked off later that spring.
