Uber is evaluating stablecoins' potential for payments, CEO Khosrowshahi says

Global transportation and delivery platform Uber is exploring the potential use of stablecoins, its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, said at the Bloomberg Tech Summit in San Francisco on Thursday.

"I think stablecoin is one of the more interesting instantiations of crypto that has a practical benefit other than crypto as a store of value," said Khosrowshahi, confirming that stablecoins could be a potential payment vehicle for Uber. "So that's super interesting to us, and we're definitely going to take a look." 

The Uber CEO explained that stablecoins offer global companies a significant advantage by reducing the costs of international money transfers. Khostowshahi indicated the company's interest in stablecoins over bitcoin, saying that it is a "proven commodity" with differing opinions on its future.

According to Khostowshahi, Uber is still in its "study phase" of potentially adopting stablecoins for use on one of the most-used services in the world. 

This is not, however, the first time Khostowshahi indicated Uber's interest in utilizing crypto. 

In 2021, the Uber CEO stated that the company is open to accepting bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies if there is sufficient benefit to be gained from doing so. He clarified that the company is not considering investing in bitcoin as part of its treasury.

In the following year, Khostowshahi stated that Uber will "absolutely" accept crypto in the future, but also mentioned high costs in the exchange mechanism and environmental concerns.

Under vocal support from President Donald Trump, the U.S. has been pushing legislation that sets the legal framework for stablecoins and issuers, with the Genius Act being in the forefront. 

This was followed by major TradFi and institutional players reportedly venturing into stablecoins, such as the ongoing discussion among major banks such as Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo to launch a joint stablecoin via subsidiaries.