Meta plans to launch its stablecoin by second half of 2026

Meta Platforms is reportedly getting ready to bring dollar-backed tokens to over 3 billion users by working with an outside company. The move comes four years after the tech giant’s Libra project fell apart when regulators stepped in.

Meta sent out requests to other firms for help setting up payments that use stablecoins and building a new digital wallet, three people familiar with the plans revealed on Tuesday. The company wants to get things running by the early second half of 2026.

Stripe looks like the main partner for this. The payments firm bought stablecoin company Bridge last year for $1.1 billion and already works closely with Meta. Stripe boss Patrick Collison got a seat on Meta’s board in April 2025.

This time, Meta is doing things differently. Rather than making its own digital token, it plans to use stablecoins that already exist through a partner company. Someone who knows about the plans said Meta wants some distance from running things directly.

Getting this done would give Meta a way to let billions of people make payments without paying the steep fees banks charge. That puts Meta up against Elon Musk’s X and Telegram, which both want to turn into super apps with built-in payments.

Libra had similar goals for WhatsApp messages and shopping on Facebook and Instagram.

Libra collapsed under regulatory pressure in 2022

Meta rolled out Libra back in 2019 as new money for Facebook, WhatsApp, and other sites. Big names like Uber and PayPal were going to help launch a stablecoin tied to multiple regular currencies. But Congress wasn’t having it. Meta was already in hot water over the Cambridge Analytica mess, and lawmakers didn’t trust a tech company running currency.

The Libra group backed off in 2020 and tried pivoting to different stablecoins for different currencies instead of one global token. The whole thing, renamed Diem by then, got killed in early 2022 before it ever went live. Meta sold what was left to Silvergate Bank.

People who worked on Libra went off and started crypto businesses. David Marcus launched Lightspark for Bitcoin payments. Others built blockchains named Aptos and Sui using computer code Meta had written called Move.

Things look different with regulators now. President Trump put his name on the GENIUS Act, which gave stablecoin companies their first real legal standing in America and let new players jump in. Regulators are still figuring out the nitty-gritty rules, though.

The time matters here. The GENIUS Act gives stablecoins a legal home they didn’t have when Libra was around, but the full regulations aren’t done yet. Meta wants to launch second half of 2026. The GENIUS Act doesn’t actually kick in completely until January 18, 2027, or 120 days after banking regulators finish writing their rules, whichever comes first.

That timing probably drove Meta to use partners instead of doing this alone. Going through Stripe and Bridge keeps Meta out of a regulatory mess while the government is still writing the rulebook.

Meta hired crypto executive to explore stablecoins

Signs of Meta’s renewed interest showed up last year. Fortune reported in May 2025 that five sources said Meta was talking to crypto companies about using stablecoins for paying people.

Meta brought on Ginger Baker as a vice president that January. She’d worked at Plaid and sits on the board running the Stellar blockchain.

Meta contacted crypto infrastructure firms in early 2025 for what were still early talks. The conversations centered on what stablecoins do well compared to regular money: getting payments to people in other countries without paying huge transfer fees.

Someone at a crypto infrastructure company said that Instagram might use stablecoins for paying creators small amounts, like $100, in different countries, which costs way less than using dollars. They said Meta was still learning and would probably work with multiple stablecoins instead of just one, like Circle’s USDC.

Two other crypto executives said they’d talked early on with Meta about paying people. Circle brought Matt Cavin over in March 2025 from blockchain gaming company Immutable to handle talks with Meta and other big tech firms, one source said. Cavin’s LinkedIn says he runs tier-1 strategic partnerships, but doesn’t name who.

Meta has spent more than a year poking around stablecoins, but now it’s apparently rushing to launch before the rules it needs are actually finished. The GENIUS Act says payment stablecoins have to come from regulated outfits like state money transmitter licensees or trust banks. The tokens need proper reserves, public info on how to redeem them, and monthly reports from accountants showing the reserves match what’s out there.

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