Meta is preparing a return to the stablecoin space in the second half of 2026, relying on an external provider to manage payments and launch a new wallet.

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  • Meta plans to begin the integration of stablecoins in early the second half of 2026.

  • Evaluate an external provider for managing payments and a new wallet, according to reports.

  • The company would have sent an RFP to external companies, and Stripe appears as a potential candidate.

  • The regulatory shift in the U.S., including the GENIUS Act, changes the context following the failure of Libra/Diem.

Meta, the American tech company behind Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, is planning to enter the stablecoin space in the second half of this year (2026), CoinDesk reported this Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity, as the information is not public.

According to sources, the project is conditioned on a successful integration with an external third-party firm that facilitates payments through dollar-backed token technology. Meta aims to begin this integration in early the second half of 2026, sources revealed.

The same sources indicated that the company plans to integrate a provider to help manage stablecoin-backed payments and implement a new digital wallet.

Back to stablecoins with… Stripe?

Additionally, Meta has reportedly sent a request for proposal (RFP) to external companies for this purpose. One of the sources mentioned Stripe as a likely candidate to pilot the stablecoin initiative linked to the Meta ecosystem.

Stripe, one of the world's most valuable payment infrastructure companies and a long-time partner of Meta, acquired Bridge last year, a company specialized in stablecoin infrastructure. Additionally, Stripe's CEO, Patrick Collison, joined Meta's board of directors in April 2025, which could facilitate strategic discussions.

One of the sources summarized Meta's current approach with the phrase: “They want to do this, but from a distance,” referring to the preference for relying on an external provider instead of directly managing the operation, regulatory compliance, and associated risks.

The competition for the Super App

The interest is not small: Meta claims to have over 3 billion users across its platforms, so the move would position Mark Zuckerberg's company to open new payment channels to its base of millions of users, allowing it to reduce fees from traditional banking intermediaries, especially in micropayments, social commerce, and cross-border remittances.

The integration would align with the use of platforms like WhatsApp for person-to-person payments and commerce tools on Facebook and Instagram, positioning Meta in direct competition with other platforms seeking to internalize transactions, such as X (by Elon Musk) and Telegram, on their path towards “superapp” models.

Meta tries again with a stablecoin

Meta previously attempted to launch a stablecoin with the Libra project (later renamed Diem) in 2019. However, that effort faced strong regulatory opposition in the United States and ended up shutting down.

Following the rejection by U.S. lawmakers, the Libra Association scaled back its ambitions in 2020. It abandoned the idea of a global digital currency backed by a basket of national currencies and shifted towards the development of several stablecoins linked to specific currencies.

Nevertheless, the stablecoin was never formally launched. The project ended up shutting down, and its assets were sold in early 2022, bringing an end to one of the most ambitious corporate attempts to bring crypto payments to a global scale. According to the report, that past experience could explain Meta's current approach of preferring to rely on an external stablecoin payment provider.

Favorable regulatory context in the U.S.

The regulatory context in the U.S. has evolved since then. Last year, President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act, which establishes for the first time a legal framework for stablecoin issuers in the country and opens the market to new participants.

However, the environment is still not entirely clear. Regulators are in the early stages of drafting rules that will govern issuers, leaving gray areas regarding operational requirements, oversight, and compliance obligations.

For a company the size of Meta, that point is crucial. A large-scale rollout of stablecoin payments requires legal certainty and rapid responsiveness to regulatory changes, especially when it comes to money and consumer protection.

In this sense, outsourcing part of the operation could serve as a buffer. Meta could focus on the experience within its apps while the external partner absorbs much of the operational, technical, and regulatory complexity surrounding stablecoins.

#MetaverseInvesting #Binance #Stripe

-Dan Pentagram