Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced that the ride-hailing giant is once again exploring the use of cryptocurrency as a payment method. This statement, made at the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco on Thursday, marks the third instance the company has indicated such considerations since 2021.

Khosrowshahi elaborated that Uber is currently in the “study phase” of evaluating stablecoins for operational use. He described stablecoins as "one of the more interesting instantiations of crypto that have a practical benefit beyond being a store of value," particularly emphasizing their promise for "global companies moving money around internationally." He added, "You can have your opinions on Bitcoin, it’s a proven commodity, and people differ on where it’s going. But stablecoins seems quite promising... That’s super interesting to us, and we’re definitely going to take a look.”

Uber's interest in digital currencies is not new; the company was an early member of the Diem Association (formerly Libra) in 2019, joining to support Meta’s (then Facebook's) now-defunct stablecoin initiative aimed at reshaping global payments.

These recent remarks echo previous statements. In September 2021, Khosrowshahi told CNBC that Uber would “look into” accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies as payment. At that time, he dismissed any plans to put crypto on the company’s balance sheet, stating, “We are going to keep our cash safe.”

Subsequently, in February 2022, Khosrowshahi informed Bloomberg that Uber would “absolutely” accept cryptocurrencies as a payment form “at some point” in the future. However, he emphasized that the timing was not yet right, citing the need for exchange mechanisms to become "less expensive and become more environmentally friendly." He also mentioned ongoing internal discussions at that time: "We’re having conversations all the time... I think you will see us leaning into crypto a little bit more.”

The context of previous announcements is noteworthy. When Khosrowshahi made crypto-related comments in 2021, BTC's price traded flat for the next three months. His February 2022 comments, however, came weeks before the beginning of an industry-shaking major market correction that kicked off later that spring.