Uber CEO Says That the Company Will Start Accepting Crypto

Last week, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that his company is willing to accept cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. These latest comments come as global crypto adoption continues to rise and crypto payments getting more mainstream.

Ride-hailing giant Uber is a $62 billion conglomerate and any pro-crypto move shall be a big news for the entire crypto fraternity. During his interview with Bloomberg, the Under CEO said that was “going to look at cryptocurrency and or Bitcoin” as a means of payment in the future.

For now, Khosrowshahi said that his team is actively looking into cryptocurrencies but added that this wasn’t the right time to jump into the crypto bandwagon. There was also a rumour in the town that the Uber CEO is planning for an onslaught of crypto ads at the Super Bowl LVI. The earlier rumours suggested that Uber might have planned for its own cryptocurrency, however, nothing of this sort appeared.

With respect to accepting crypto payments, the Uber CEO has cited environmental concerns with the use of digital assets. Also, speaking about their crypto plans during a Bloomberg interview, Khosrowshahi said:

“We’re having conversations all the time. I think, right now, what we’re seeing with Bitcoin and some of the other cryptos is that they are quite valuable as a store of value, the exchange mechanism is expensive, it’s not great for the environment. As it becomes less expensive, becomes more environmentally friendly, I think you will see us lean into crypto a little bit more, so we’re absolutely watching it. If you say ‘is Uber going to accept crypto in the future?’… absolutely. At some point. This isn’t the right point, but we will.”

Uber is not the first company to consider this idea of accepting crypto payments. Last year, electric carmaker and automobile giant Tesla started accepting crypto payments, only with Bitcoin.

However, it soon dropped the idea citing environmental concerns related to energy-usage for Bitcoin mining. The bitcoin mining industry has largely moved away from using coal energy to using green energy.

The rapid transition happened after the China crypto mining ban in mid-2021. Last week, Uber announced its Q4 2021 results and the company has witnessed a healthy uptick in the business. The company’s mobility and delivery business has also seen growing demand despite the Omicron variant speed.