Uber is open to accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method, according to the company’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
“Is Uber going to accept crypto in the future? Absolutely. At some point,” he told Bloomberg. “This isn’t the right point.”
Khosrowshahi, who was appointed as a CEO in 2017, said he and the team are always discussing the possibility of adding cryptos as a payment method, despite some factors standing in the way.
Among the detriments of accepting cryptos for payment is transactions costs. Several cryptocurrencies run on blockchains that have extremely high fees like Ethereum. In addition to that, some cryptos that follow the proof-of-work model cause a negative impact on the environment, since mining them requires intensive power usage.
“As the exchange mechanism becomes less expensive and becomes more environmentally friendly, I think you will see us leaning into crypto a little bit more,” he told Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, other major companies such as Tesla have already considered accepting cryptos as a payment method. In the last few months, Elon Musk the CEO of Tesla said that his company has started accepting Dogecoin as a payment method for its merchandise. The electric vehicles manufacturer has accepted payments in Bitcoin last year before it revoked the decision citing environmental concerns.
