Quick take:
An anonymous source told Fortune that the firms see crypto as a means of cutting transaction costs in their bid to optimize cross-border payments.
Meta is also reportedly leaning towards crypto despite abandoning its earlier plans due to regulatory challenges.
They join the likes of Uber, whose CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on Thursday told Bloomberg his company is in the “study” phase of using stablecoins for global transfers.
The tech industry’s biggest players are exploring options to integrate crypto according to sources cited by Fortune. The finance-focused publisher reported on Friday that Apple, X, Airbnb and Google are holding early conversations with crypto firms about integrating stablecoins.
The report comes amid growing optimism about the implementation of a clearer and crypto-friendly regulatory framework in the U.S. Meta, which previously tried to integrate crypto before facing regulatory hurdles is also looking to revisit the issue, the anonymous source told Fortune.
On the other hand, ride-sharing app Uber is already in the “study” phase of using stablecoins for global transfers, the firm’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told Bloomberg on Thursday, following Cicle Internet Group, Inc.’s (NYSE: CRCL) huge IPO on Wednesday.
Stablecoin issuer’s post-listing stock price surge supports the recent shift in the crypto space that has seen stablecoin companies become major players in the perceived mainstreaming of the crypto industry.
Mostly it has been traditional financial institutions and fintech companies leading the mainstream integration of crypto, but now, big tech seems to be about to join.
According to the report, the firms see crypto as a means of cutting transaction costs in their bid to optimize cross-border payments.
“It’s pretty clear that this is probably one of the biggest upgrades to payments since the SWIFT network,” Rich Widmann, head of Web3 strategy at Google Cloud, told Fortune, confirming that the tech giant is exploring stablecoin integrations.
An Airbnb spokesperson told the publisher: “While crypto payments aren’t something we’re focused on integrating into the platform in the near future, we’re always looking at all aspects of payments for ways to improve our community’s experience with it, including developments in digital assets and their use cases.”
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