Once a major player that caused waves in the crypto world but then withdrew quietly, Meta, the tech giant, is now preparing for a strong comeback, planning to re-enter the stablecoin sector in the second half of this year.
According to sources cited by the foreign media outlet CoinDesk, the success of this plan hinges on whether Meta can successfully integrate with third-party payment companies to introduce dollar-pegged stablecoin payment technology.
An anonymous insider revealed that Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram—platforms with over 3 billion active users worldwide—hopes to start the stablecoin integration as early as the second half of this year. To achieve this goal, Meta is taking a backseat this time, actively seeking alliances with external vendors to outsource technology management for the stablecoin payment business and launching a new wallet.
Another insider added that Meta has issued Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to multiple third-party companies, with global payments giant Stripe considered the most likely candidate to lead Meta’s stablecoin project.
Last year, Stripe acquired stablecoin technology firm Bridge, which is also a long-term partner of Meta. Stripe CEO Patrick Collison joined Meta’s board in April 2025, further strengthening the relationship between the two companies.
For Meta, adopting stablecoins would be a significant boost, opening new payment channels for its vast user base, bypassing the high cross-border transaction fees of traditional banks, and potentially positioning Meta as a leader in social commerce and cross-border remittances.
However, this move also places Meta in fierce competition within the red ocean, directly competing with Elon Musk’s X platform and the messaging app Telegram. Both companies are actively integrating payment features into their platforms, ambitiously transforming into “super apps” that offer a wide range of services.
Looking back at Meta’s earlier plans for Libra (later renamed Diem), the original vision was similar: leveraging WhatsApp’s P2P messaging, along with Facebook and Instagram’s massive communities and business tools, to build a seamless digital financial empire.
Meta attempted to launch a stablecoin as early as 2019, but faced significant hurdles due to an immature regulatory environment and the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, which drew strong opposition from U.S. politicians and regulators.
In response to intense criticism from U.S. Congress members, the Libra Association was forced to compromise in 2020, abandoning its initial grand vision of a global digital currency backed by a basket of fiat currencies. Instead, it shifted to developing multiple stablecoins pegged to different currencies. Even with this fallback, Meta’s stablecoin project ultimately failed and was quietly shut down in early 2022, with assets sold off.
However, compared to that time, the regulatory environment in the U.S. has significantly improved. With several cryptocurrency regulations becoming clearer, especially the GENIUS Act promoted by President Donald Trump, a legal foundation has been established for stablecoin issuers in the U.S., opening the market to new entrants.
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