Meta is moving back into the stablecoin market, and this time the plan looks more careful. According to a new report, the company wants to start a stablecoin payments rollout in the second half of 2026 by working with an outside partner instead of trying to build and run its own token system. The reported plan includes a vendor that can handle stablecoin payment operations and a new wallet that would plug into Meta’s apps. That matters because Meta controls Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, giving it a huge path to bring stablecoin payments to everyday users at scale.
The likely partner named in the report is Stripe, which makes sense. Stripe is already a major payments company, it completed its Bridge acquisition in February 2025, and Bridge is focused on stablecoin infrastructure. Stripe also now has a tighter link to Meta at the board level, since Meta announced Patrick Collison joined its board in April 2025. That combination gives Meta a way to use stablecoin rails without carrying all the technical and regulatory weight itself.
This is a big shift from the Libra and Diem era. Back in 2019, Meta tried to launch Libra as a much larger digital currency project. The company faced strong pushback from lawmakers and regulators, and the project later rebranded to Diem before it was finally shut down. In early 2022, the Diem Association sold its assets to Silvergate, ending Meta’s first stablecoin push. The old plan tried to put Meta close to the center of a new money system. The new plan looks like a stablecoin integration strategy instead: use existing stablecoin infrastructure, stay at arm’s length, and focus on payments inside apps people already use.
The timing also looks better for a stablecoin launch than it did a few years ago. In July 2025, the U.S. GENIUS Act was sent to President Trump and then signed into law, creating a legal framework for dollar-pegged stablecoin issuers. The rules are still being worked out in detail, but the legal path is much clearer than it was during Libra. That change helps explain why a large tech company would revisit stablecoin payments now, especially for cross-border transfers and low-cost commerce. A stablecoin product inside WhatsApp or Instagram could make small payments and remittances faster than older bank rails in many markets.
The chart setup around this story supports that view. Stablecoin prices are not supposed to move much, so the price chart is less important than the volume chart. Right now, USDT is still trading near $1.00, and USDC is also trading at about $1.00, which shows the market is treating the top stablecoin pairs as working payment instruments, not speculation coins. The more important signal is volume: CoinGecko shows roughly $70.9 billion in 24-hour USDT volume and about $11.8 billion in 24-hour USDC volume. That kind of volume tells you stablecoin demand is tied to real transfer and trading activity, which is the exact market Meta wants to tap.
The broader stablecoin chart also helps link the story together. DeFiLlama shows the total stablecoin market cap at about $308.8 billion, with USDT dominance near 59.4%. CoinGecko’s market charts also place stablecoin market value around the $311 billion range. That means Meta is not trying to create demand from zero. It is stepping into a stablecoin market that is already large, liquid, and active. If Meta can add a simple stablecoin wallet and smooth checkout tools, it could push more stablecoin use in social commerce, creator payouts, and cross-border payments, even if it never issues a stablecoin itself.
There is still risk. Stablecoin regulation is moving, but it is not fully settled. The market also remains concentrated, and Reuters recently noted how central large stablecoin issuers have become to crypto markets. That means any stablecoin expansion by Meta will likely face close review from regulators and banks. Meta also still carries baggage from the Cambridge Analytica era, so trust and compliance will matter as much as product design.
Even so, the business logic is clear. Meta has users, Stripe has payments plumbing, Bridge has stablecoin tools, and the stablecoin market already has the liquidity and volume to support a large rollout. If this stablecoin plan launches, Meta may not be reviving Libra in name, but it will be chasing the same core goal with a cleaner path: make stablecoin payments feel normal inside the apps people already use every day.
