Uber weighs stablecoins for cross-border transfers as cost and efficiency pressures mount - Trade Treasury Payments

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Uber weighs stablecoins for cross-border transfers as cost and efficiency pressures mount

Uber Technologies is evaluating the potential use of stablecoins to facilitate cross-border payments, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced at the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco.

The comments follow increasing interest from multinational firms in blockchain-based financial infrastructure as a strategic alternative to legacy banking systems.

Stablecoins (digital assets typically pegged to fiat currencies like the US dollar) are considered by any to be a potential solution to the structural inefficiencies of traditional cross-border transfers. While wire transfers can take several business days and incur fees upwards of $30, stablecoin-based transactions can be executed near-instantaneously with costs measured in cents, or even fractions thereof.

This efficiency gain is particularly relevant for firms like Uber, which operate in fragmented regulatory and banking environments across dozens of markets. In such contexts, stablecoins could streamline payments to drivers, vendors, and other stakeholders while reducing the company’s reliance on expensive and intermediated transfer networks.

Uber is not alone in this assessment. Meta has also been reported to be exploring stablecoin rails for cross-border payments, especially for small creator payouts. Meanwhile, banks and fintech firms have accelerated their digital currency strategies, recognising the competitive pressure from decentralised alternatives. Some of the world’s largest financial institutions are now racing to develop proprietary stablecoin offerings or partner with third-party issuers.

One such issuer, Circle Internet Financial, recently debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. Its stock surged on opening day, closing at $83.23 after launching at $31. Circle also announced that its stablecoin-based infrastructure, the Circle Payments Network (CPN), is now live, a significant step toward the mainstream adoption of blockchain-powered payments.

For Uber, any shift toward stablecoin settlement would likely be gradual and depend heavily on factors like regulatory clarity and operational integration. Whether stablecoins will play a material role in Uber’s future payments strategy remains to be seen, but with cost efficiency, settlement speed, and financial access increasingly under scrutiny, their appeal is difficult to ignore.