Ever since Tesla purchased more than $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin last week, many more large-scale companies are getting the confidence they need to either examine bitcoin payments or invest in the currency outright. The latest major firm to jump on the bitcoin bandwagon is driving service Uber, which says that it’s considering allowing BTC payments in the future.
Uber Is Hopping Aboard the Bitcoin Train
The idea of bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments has been something of a conundrum over the past several years. On the one hand, payments are what bitcoin and many of its competing altcoin cousins were designed for. They were built as a means of allowing people who could not gain access to traditional financial services or tools to purchase goods and services. They were designed to override fiat at some point and give everyone the financial independence they deserved.
However, these currencies came with a level of volatility that nobody saw coming. The assets go up and down the way the sun rises and falls, and as a result, many companies have been too wary when it comes to allowing crypto payments. They run the risk of losing out on profit, and while we’d all appreciate a world where bitcoin is treated like a normal currency, we cannot blame these companies for their ongoing fears.
Say, for example, you walk into a store and purchase $50 worth of merchandise with BTC. Tomorrow, the price goes down that ultimately turns your $50 into $30. You’ll still walk away with all that merchandise but granted the retailer your bought from hasn’t traded the cryptocurrency for fiat yet, that company has lost out on $20. Many enterprises do not want to chance losing out.
However, along with its $1.5 billion purchase, Tesla has mentioned that it’s looking into allowing bitcoin and crypto payments for goods and services, and now several large businesses appear to be thinking, “If BTC payments are good enough for Tesla, why not us?”
This Will Be the Real Thing; Not a Promotion
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a recent interview:
Just like we accept all kinds of local currency, we are going to look at cryptocurrency and/ or bitcoin in terms of currency to transact. That’s good for business. That’s good for our riders and our eaters, so we’ll certainly look at that, 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.
Uber is now joining a growing list of companies that are looking into the possibilities of bitcoin payments. Another one to announce similar plans in recent days is social media giant Twitter, which says it’s considering paying its employees in BTC at some point. New York bank BNY Mellon has also announced it will offer crypto custody services to its clients following increased demand.
