The news: Meta will reenter the stablecoin market in the second half of 2026, per Coindesk.

The company issued an RFP to third-party providers to help administer the stablecoin. Stripe’s Bridge has reportedly been identified as a possible contender for the contract, per Coindesk.

How we got here: Meta previously took a stab at a stablecoin project back in 2019, originally named Libra and then Diem. 

• The initial crypto initiative was ambitious: Meta wanted to create a global digital currency backed by a compilation of different national fiat. 
• This plan was later revised to develop multiple stablecoins pegged to different national currencies. 
• Meta abandoning the project in 2022 due to regulatory headwinds and fallout of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. No token ever launched.

Why a stablecoin now? The regulatory environment has changed with the GENIUS Act and a crypto-friendly executive branch, making firms more comfortable investing in crypto technologies. 

Use cases are now also clearer: 

• We forecast US retail social ecommerce to capture $102.68 billion in volume, accounting for 7.6% of all retail ecommerce for 2026. And 37.5% of US adults said they were more likely to shop on Instagram than other social media groups, per a survey from Power Digital Marketing.
• Social platforms like Meta also stand to save money by paying out creators on their platform through stablecoins to bypass fees. Similarly, Visa launched Visa Direct, a pilot program that lets businesses pay creators in stablecoins straight to their crypto wallets.

Storm on the horizon: Meta may have a hard time with adoption given the OCC’s proposed rulemaking for the GENIUS Act. 

These rules would close loopholes that banks argue let stablecoin issuers pay illegal interest—typically in the form of rewards—on balances. This could limit Meta’s ability to offer incentives for creators and social commerce shoppers on its platform to switch to the stablecoin instead of conventional payment methods. 

That rulemaking would cascade well beyond Meta depending on how it’s interpreted—PayPal offers 3.7% annually on PYUSD held in PayPal and Venmo wallets, and Coinbase offers up to 3.5% on savings accounts denominated in USDC.

Implications for crypto providers: Meta’s new token could capture Instagram and Facebook users before competing stablecoins have a chance to reach them given how frequently these apps are already touchpoints in consumers’ lives. 

But with OCC eliminating rewards loopholes, stablecoin providers overall may struggle to articulate a value proposition that competes with credit cards and other popular payment methods. 

• Crypto providers can highlight their ability to lower fees on cross-border transactions for global businesses and consumers and immediate settlement properties.
• They can also restructure their rewards from deposit-based perks to spending-based perks, which would still be permitted under the OCC’s tighter rules.