Meta tests stablecoin payments, sources say

Meta Platforms is testing stablecoin payments within its existing payments platform, using currently available stablecoins, according to sources familiar with the plans.

The company has clarified it has no plans to create its own stablecoin, emphasizing that the initiative aims to allow users and businesses to make payments using their preferred digital currencies.

Meta previously developed its own stablecoin, Libra, but abandoned the project in 2022 after regulatory and legislative opposition.

Stablecoins are digital assets pegged to the US dollar and backed by reserves, with the total circulating supply exceeding US$300 billion last year.

The stablecoin market grew following the first federal framework for issuers signed into law in July, prompting many companies to launch or develop their own branded stablecoins.

Several financial firms are also seeking trust bank charters to support their stablecoin operations.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Meta shifts from building a coin to plugging into existing ones after Libra

Meta’s earlier Libra effort ran into strong regulatory and legislative pushback, and it dropped the stablecoin project in 2022 1.
Now the company is testing stablecoin payments inside its current payments product, plus it sent a request for proposals to outside firms for stablecoin-based payment tools that could connect existing coins to Meta’s systems 2.
That change fits a “post-Libra world,” where firms adjust to the first federal framework for stablecoin issuers signed into law in July 3.
Meta says it will not launch its own stablecoin. It plans to let people and merchants pay with already issued stablecoins, which may draw less regulatory resistance than Libra did 1.

A new stablecoin rulebook pushes banks and tech firms into uneasy cooperation

Meta’s approach adds momentum to an industry shift away from a “banks versus crypto” standoff toward careful cooperation 4.
Meta is weighing stablecoin payments. Reports say Stripe (a payments processing company) is on the partner list, while banks run their own pilots to cut transfer fees 2 5.
Recent legislation sets a tradeoff. Stablecoin issuers cannot pay interest, a limit meant to protect banks’ deposit base 6.
Banks still risk losing their place in payment flows if they fail to build a plan around these dollar-pegged digital assets, whose circulating supply topped US$300 billion last year 7.