Meta to Launch New Stablecoin in 2026 to Power Digital Payment Ecosystem
Meta Platforms Inc., the leading American technology company, reportedly plans to launch a dollar-backed stablecoin to support digital payments for its products.
Summary
- Meta plans to launch its own stablecoin in the second half of this year.
- According to sources, Meta plans to work with a third-party vendor to integrate a stablecoin and its wallet into Meta’s ecosystem.
- Meta had previously tried to introduce the Libra stablecoin, which was later renamed Diem in 2019. It shut down due to regulatory issues.
Meta, the tech giant led by Mark Zuckerberg, is planning to enter the stablecoin space in the latter part of this year. Sources close to Meta revealed that the company will work with a third-party vendor to integrate stablecoin and its wallet into Meta’s ecosystem.
The company has presented a product request (RFP) to several third-party firms, but is currently leading on payment service provider Stripe for the project.
Stripe is a leading Irish-American financial services and SaaS company providing customizable API-based payment processing for online businesses. The company has scaled its services into the crypto industry by acquiring the stablecoin specialist Bridge last year. Stripe CEO Patrick Collison has been a member of Meta’s board of directors since April 2025.
Meta Competing with X and Telegram
Apart from Meta, Telegram, and X (formerly Twitter) are also entering social media platforms, providing digital payment services. Telegram already has a functional system that enables instant, low-fee stablecoin payments using Tether (USDT) on The Open Network (TON) blockchain via the built-in “Wallet: bot or self-custodian TON Space.
On the other hand, X is advancing towards integrating stablecoin payments through X Money, leveraging a partnership with Visa for peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers and utilizing money transmitter licenses (MTLs) to facilitate transactions.
These social media companies would become the top social commerce providers, supporting cross-border transactions and avoiding the costly and time-consuming traditional banking process.
Meta is scaling way into stablecoin payment, creating an additional revenue source from its 3 billion users through platform charges or transaction fees. A month ago, the company’s Q4 2025 report said its revenue staggered at $59.89 billion, a 24% year-over-year increase.
Meta’s Previous Stablecoin Project
In 2019, Meta introduced Libra, a fiat-backed stablecoin, with the same objective as the current one, which is to provide a social payments system. However, the project encountered intense scrutiny from regulators, lawmakers, and central banks worldwide.
Concerns were raised about financial stability risks and monetary sovereignty implications for data privacy and anti-money laundering compliance. The backlash caused partners to withdraw from the project and congressional hearings. Later, Libra was rebranded as Diem, and by early 2022, the project was terminated. The company sold its intellectual property rights to Silvergate Bank for $182 million. In the same year, Meta shut down its digital wallet Novi due to underperformance, as it was linked to the Diem stablecoin.
Different Approaches in the New Project
According to reports, Meta’s renewed stablecoin project is different from the Libra model. Instead of issuing a proprietary token governed by a consortium, Meta is partnering with an established stablecoin issuer. This could reduce regulatory friction while still integrating digital payments into platforms. It also allows Meta to avoid direct reserve management responsibilities, mitigate systemic risk concerns, simplify regulatory approvals, and focus on user interface and wallet design.
New Wallet Product
Along with stablecoin integration, Meta is exploring a new wallet product. The digital wallet provides user-facing interfaces for storing, sending, and receiving digital assets. Meta’s wallet could potentially integrate with the company’s existing platforms, such as messaging and social media services.
Conclusion
Several crypto regulatory policies, including Trump’s GENIUS Act, which provides a legal foundation for U.S. stablecoin issuers, have opened opportunities for market entrants. However, we have to wait and see whether Meta’s project will be a success, as the government is only in the early stages of drafting regulations governing issuers.