Meta pushes to enter the stablecoin payments market within the year

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is reportedly seeking ways to enter the stablecoin payments market in the second half of this year.

On the 23rd (local time), CoinDesk, citing multiple sources, reported: "Meta is considering partnerships with external firms to introduce a payment system using a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin. Integration work could begin as early as the start of the second half of this year."

Meta is said to be planning to run stablecoin-based payments through a third-party partner and is also considering introducing a new digital wallet. It has also sent out requests for proposal (RFPs) to outside companies, and payments firm Stripe is being cited as the leading candidate.

Stripe acquired stablecoin specialist Bridge last year and has maintained a long-standing partnership with Meta. Stripe CEO Patrick Collison also joined Meta’s board in April last year. Meta, Stripe and Bridge, however, have not issued official comments on the matter.

The market believes that if Meta successfully establishes a stablecoin payment system, the ripple effects could be significant. With a base of more than 3 billion users worldwide across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, it could build a mammoth in-house payment network. Competition for leadership with rival platforms such as X and Telegram—both aiming to embed payments and evolve into “super apps”—is also expected to intensify.

This would be Meta’s second attempt to enter the digital-asset market. In 2019, it ambitiously unveiled the “Libra” project aimed at a global monetary ecosystem, but it ran into worsening public sentiment following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and fierce opposition from U.S. regulators. The company later renamed the project “Diem” and adjusted its strategy, but ultimately failed to clear regulatory hurdles and made a full exit by selling related assets in early 2022.

More recently, analysts say a new path has opened for Meta as the U.S. regulatory environment for digital assets has shifted rapidly in a more favorable direction. The push to pass measures such as President Donald Trump’s GENIUS Act has laid a legal foundation for issuing stablecoins, lowering barriers to entry. While detailed rules are still being drafted, the view is that a framework is taking shape to operate stablecoins within the regulated system.

Still, having experienced failure after direct clashes with regulators in the past, Meta is said to be taking a cautious stance this time. One source said, "Meta wants to introduce stablecoin payments, but this time it intends to proceed carefully while keeping some distance (rather than stepping in directly)."