Uber is exploring dollar-pegged stablecoins as a device for transferring funds throughout its world community, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated on June 5 on the Bloomberg Tech convention in San Francisco.
Khosrowshahi defined that blockchain-based tokens might settle funds sooner than conventional correspondent financial institution channels and remove layers of overseas alternate charges.
He stated that stablecoins “have a sensible profit aside from crypto’s historic worth,” including that the corporate is measuring operational, regulatory, and technical variables earlier than deciding whether or not to proceed.
Information exhibits that Uber had 171 million month-to-month lively platform customers as of December 31, 2024.
The agency believes near-instant settlement in a dollar-denominated token might compress prices in areas the place native banking rails stay costly or sluggish.
Khosrowshahi emphasised that the examine part doesn’t contain holding crypto on the stability sheet and that any deployment would respect current shopper safety guidelines.
Bitcoin funds on the roadmap
Uber CEO’s current feedback comply with his remarks in August 2024, when he informed CNBC that Uber would “undoubtedly” add Bitcoin and different cryptocurrencies as fee choices as soon as there’s regulatory readability and technical integration hurdles may be overcome.
On the time, Khosrowshahi famous that Uber already helps bank cards, PayPal, Venmo, and Apple Pay and stated including crypto would lengthen the identical flexibility to riders and couriers with out exposing the corporate to digital-asset worth swings.
He dominated out speculative treasury investments, framing the plan strictly as a customer-choice initiative.
Stories surfaced that product groups have since explored the event of a devoted crypto pockets inside the Uber app and consulted exterior specialists on compliance screening and transaction safety, in accordance with folks conversant in the trouble.
For now, Uber stays in an exploratory posture. Khosrowshahi closed his Bloomberg Tech keynote by saying the corporate “will have a look” at stablecoins and proceed refining its crypto fee plans, pending clear guidelines from lawmakers and regulators.
