Uber Reportedly Exploring Stablecoin Adoption to Cut Cross-Border Transfer Costs

Uber is reportedly exploring the use of stablecoins once again. During the Bloomberg Tech conference held this week in San Francisco, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, discussed the company's ongoing study on the use of stablecoins. Uber is looking to reduce the costs of processing international money transfers, and it is now studying the use of stablecoins to achieve this goal. Over the past few years, stablecoins have garnered the attention of governments and institutional investors, with multiple countries now mulling regulations to oversee stablecoins.

According to a Bloomberg report on June 5, Khosrowshahi said that stablecoins seem to have a "practical benefit" in cutting financial costs.

Stablecoins are a form of cryptocurrency built to maintain a fixed value. Like Tether and USDC, these assets are linked to fiat assets like the US dollar which safeguards these tokens against market volatility and risks. Crypto traders often use stablecoins to transfer funds between different tokens.

During his interview at the Bloomberg event, Khosrowshahi reportedly said that Uber is going to have a look at stablecoins.

"You can have your opinions on Bitcoin, but I do think that stablecoins are quite promising especially for global companies that are moving money around globally for us to essentially reduce costs," Khosrowshahi noted. Videos from the event have also been shared on social media.

Khosrowshahi's statement comes at a time with the US is moving forward towards regulating stablecoins. The US government is in the process of reviewing and clearing the proposed stablecoin legislation, called the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. In May, the House Financial Services Committee advanced the bill to the House of Senate for the final approval, which remains awaited. The laws aim to clarify the dos and don'ts for stablecoin issuers to ensure user safety.

Hong Kong passed its Stablecoin Bill in May, aiming to establish a licensing regime for the issuers of fiat-referenced stablecoin.

Payment giants like Mastercard and banks are exploring stablecoin ventures amid the growing hype as well.

In May, Meta said that it is exploring the use of stablecoins to manage payouts for international creators and reduce transfer costs.