Major tech giants including Apple, Google, Airbnb, and X are reportedly in early-stage talks with cryptocurrency companies to explore the integration of stablecoins, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
The crypto industry has long sought a “killer app” to bring blockchains into the financial mainstream and, in stablecoins, it may have found one. Banks and fintechs are rapidly adopting stablecoins—digital tokens pegged to the value of the dollar—and now Big Tech firms are poised to do the same, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The sources, who spoke with Fortune on the condition of anonymity to discuss private business conversations, said the firms view adoption of the crypto assets as a means to lower transaction costs and optimize cross-border payments.
Apple, X, Airbnb, and Google are not the only Big Tech names exploring stablecoins. Others include Meta, which is once again leaning into the payment technology after abandoning an ambitious earlier push that failed in the face of regulatory backlash. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the rideshare company is in the “study” phase of using stablecoins for global money transfers at a Bloomberg conference on Thursday.
The interest from Big Tech comes as stablecoins have attracted millions in venture funding and lawmaker attention as Congress weighs two bills that would regulate the asset class. And it follows a landmark acquisition from the payments giant Stripe of the stablecoin startup Bridge, which was a starting gun for many in Silicon Valley to take the technology seriously.
“[Stablecoins] are this old idea, but finally I think we’ve got the right pieces coming together such that it’s really coming into fruition,” said Haun Ventures partner Chris Ahn, who was an early investor in Bridge.
X and Apple did not respond to requests for comment.
“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. He confirmed that the tech giant was exploring stablecoin integrations.
“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,” said an Airbnb spokesperson.
