- Meta plans to add stablecoin-based payments in the early second half of the year using a third-party vendor and a new wallet
- Stripe is seen as a leading candidate for Meta’s stablecoin pilot as the company shifts from its discontinued Libra and Diem projects
Meta is preparing a renewed push into digital payments, planning to support stablecoin-based transactions later this year through a third-party partner, according to three people familiar with the initiative. The U.S. technology company led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg aims to deploy a dollar-pegged token system that would allow users to move money across its platforms while sidestepping some of the costs and constraints of traditional banking.
Meta’s planned stablecoin rollout and payments model
The company, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram and reaches more than 3 billion users, is targeting the early part of the second half of this year to begin integrating stablecoin payments, one person said. The plan involves working with an external vendor that would administer stablecoin-backed transactions and power a new digital wallet experience rather than Meta issuing or running the stablecoin itself.
According to a second person familiar with the preparations, Meta has circulated a request for product to potential providers and has identified Stripe as a likely candidate for an initial pilot. Stripe, which acquired stablecoin specialist Bridge last year, has long-standing commercial links with Meta. Stripe CEO Patrick Collison also joined Meta’s board of directors in April 2025, underscoring the closeness of the relationship. Meta, Stripe and Bridge were asked for comment on the plans but did not respond before publication.
By embedding stablecoin rails into its existing platforms, Meta could enable low-friction payments for social interactions and commerce across its apps. That would include everyday consumer payments and cross-border transfers routed through messaging and social features instead of conventional banking channels. The strategy is designed to reduce reliance on banks that charge higher transaction fees, especially for international transfers and smaller online purchases.
Competitive landscape and the “super app” race
Meta’s move positions the company more directly in a growing contest among major social and messaging platforms to internalize payments and become multi-purpose “super apps.” Its plans would put it in closer competition with Elon Musk’s social media platform X, which has laid out ambitions to integrate payments as a core feature, and with Telegram, which is also working to expand its in-app financial capabilities.
If Meta succeeds in implementing stablecoin payments at scale, its existing tools could become more tightly integrated with commerce. WhatsApp’s peer-to-peer messaging, for instance, could double as a channel for remittances, while Facebook and Instagram’s extensive networks and digital storefronts could gain more seamless in-app checkout options. That vision echoes the company’s earlier effort to embed a native digital currency across its platforms, but this time the approach relies on a third-party token provider rather than a proprietary coin issued and managed directly by Meta.
For users, the potential advantages include quicker settlement, easier cross-border transfers and integration of payments into social interactions and shopping flows. For merchants and creators operating on Meta’s platforms, stablecoin-based payments may provide access to a broader audience with lower fees, particularly in markets where access to traditional banking infrastructure remains limited or costly.
Regulatory climate and lessons from Libra and Diem
The renewed push into stablecoins follows Meta’s abandoned attempt to launch its own digital currency under the Libra, later Diem, brand in 2019. That earlier initiative quickly ran into severe political and regulatory resistance. Lawmakers in the U.S. raised concerns about financial stability, monetary sovereignty and consumer protection, and those objections were amplified by skepticism toward Meta after the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
As criticism escalated, the Libra Association stepped back from its original vision of a single global token backed by multiple national currencies. In 2020 it shifted to exploring separate stablecoins tied to individual fiat currencies instead of a basket-based currency. Despite the pivot, the project never reached public launch. By early 2022, the initiative had been shut down and its remaining assets sold, ending a high-profile attempt to place a Meta-backed digital currency at the center of global consumer payments.
Conditions in the U.S. have shifted since then. Several efforts to establish clearer crypto oversight are in progress, including President Donald Trump’s GENIUS Act, which has for the first time provided a formal legal basis for stablecoin issuers in the country. That law has encouraged new market entrants to explore issuing tokens within a defined regulatory framework. Even so, agencies remain in the early stages of drafting detailed rules, leaving significant questions about long-term compliance obligations and supervisory expectations.
The experience with Libra and Diem has shaped Meta’s current strategy. Rather than issue its own asset, the company now prefers to work with an external stablecoin vendor and keep some distance from the underlying token. One person familiar with the planning described this as an “arm’s length” approach. Under this model, Meta focuses on integrating payments into user experiences and front-end products, while a specialist provider manages the technical and regulatory aspects of issuing and backing the stablecoin.
Conclusion
Meta’s effort to integrate stablecoin payments marks a return to a strategic goal first articulated during the Libra era, but with a notably different structure. By turning to a third-party provider and operating within a more developed, though still evolving, U.S. regulatory environment, the company is seeking to reopen digital payment rails for its vast user base without repeating earlier missteps. The outcome will determine not only Meta’s role in social commerce and remittances but also how far major technology platforms can go in reshaping consumer payments around stablecoin infrastructure.
Disclaimer
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