Uber will accept cryptocurrency as payment option in future, confirms CEO

Uber users will be able to pay for their rides using cryptocurrencies at some point in future, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has confirmed. In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Khosrowshahi said that the cab hailing service will accept cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin as a payment option “at some point in the future.”

However, this isn’t expected to happen anytime soon. The Uber CEO cited several reasons as to why the cryptocurrency-based payments option isn’t expected to arrive on Uber soon. The list includes high transaction fees, cost of exchanges and the environmental impact of digital mining on the energy grids among others.

“We’re having conversations all the time,” Khosrowshahi said, adding that cryptocurrency-based payments will arrive on Uber when mining digital currencies becomes more eco-friendly. “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 added.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that the Uber CEO has talked about enabling cryptocurrency-based payment option in the app. Speaking at CNBC’s Sqawk Box back in November last year, the Uber CEO said that the cab-hailing service will “look at cryptocurrency and/or Bitcoin in terms of currency to transact,” he had said.

He had also said that if cryptocurrency-based payments are good for riders and its business, it will introduce the feature on its app. “And if there’s a benefit there, if there’s a need there, we’ll do it, we are just not going to do it as part of a promotion,” Khosrowshahi had added at the time.

When Uber starts accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment options, it will join the elite league of companies such as Microsoft, Starbucks, Twitch, fast forward stores such as Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC (in select locations), PayPal, Visa, Tesla, Mastercard, Expedia and Coca Cola that accept cryptocurrencies-based payments. In addition to that some airline companies such as airBaltic and LOT Polish airlines also accept cryptocurrency as a payment option.

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