Uber Eyes Cost Efficiency Through Stablecoin Payments, Enters ‘Study’ Phase

Uber is taking a severe have a look at stablecoins because it explores methods to streamline worldwide transactions and cut back cross-border fee prices.

Talking on the Bloomberg Tech Summit in San Francisco on June 5, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi mentioned the corporate is at the moment within the “research section” of evaluating stablecoins as a possible fee technique, calling the expertise “tremendous fascinating.”

The exec highlighted stablecoins for his or her sensible utility in world enterprise operations.

Whereas Uber has signaled crypto curiosity previously, stating as early as 2021 that it was open to accepting digital belongings, the present focus seems to be extra pragmatic, zeroing in on real-world use circumstances that would enhance the corporate’s operational effectivity.

This shift comes at a time when regulatory readability is taking form, significantly within the US, the place the bipartisan GENIUS Act goals to determine a transparent authorized framework for fee stablecoins.

The act coincides with related strikes in Europe beneath MiCA and rising laws throughout Asia. This rising regulatory certainty has prompted conventional monetary establishments reminiscent of Citigroup and Wells Fargo to discover stablecoin initiatives.

In April, Mastercard additionally launched a stablecoin fee system, partnering with OKX and Nuvei to allow customers to spend and retailers to simply accept stablecoins globally. The initiative displays rising regulatory readability and contains integration with main crypto platforms like MetaMask, Kraken, and Binance for seamless, end-to-end transactions.

Different firms, together with Stripe, have additionally revealed ongoing talks with banks to leverage stablecoin rails for commerce.

For Uber, a platform that operates throughout greater than 70 nations and 15,000 cities, stablecoins may provide a cost-efficient resolution to settle driver funds, deal with buyer transactions, and bypass conventional forex change complexities. Whether or not Uber strikes past its exploratory section stays to be seen.