Meta's Crypto Comeback: Stablecoins on the Horizon?

Tech Giant Explores New Payment Frontiers

Hang onto your hats, crypto fans! Meta, the social media behemoth, is diving back into the wild world of cryptocurrencies, and this time they're eyeing stablecoins. That's right, they're thinking about shaking up payments across their platforms with some steady-as-she-goes digital cash!

Word on the street, straight from five sources spilling the beans to Fortune on May 8, is that Meta's in the early stages of chatting up crypto infrastructure bigwigs. They're mulling over how to use stablecoins, maybe even for those small-time payouts to creators on Instagram and the like.

Insiders spill that Meta's not putting all their eggs in one basket. Nope, they're considering a whole range of tokens and might just play it cool, supporting whatever stablecoins tickle their fancy.

Rumor has it, they're eyeing the heavy hitters like USDT and USDC, all while keeping an eye on the bottom line and how easy it'll be to roll this out worldwide.

Stablecoins could be the secret sauce Meta needs to slash those pesky transaction fees and make cross-border payments a breeze, especially in spots where traditional systems are slow as molasses or cost an arm and a leg.

But hold your horses, because those same sources say we're just at the starting gate here. Meta's still in "learn mode," figuring out the lay of the land.

And get this—Meta's ramping up their crypto game by bringing on Ginger Baker as VP of Product. This former Plaid powerhouse and current Stellar Development Foundation board member is all about fintech and blockchain. She's the one calling the shots on Meta's stablecoin plans and reaching out to potential crypto partners.

Now, if you're thinking this sounds familiar, you're not wrong. Remember Meta's wild ride with Libra, which they later rebranded to Diem? They wanted to launch a global digital currency backed by a basket of fiat currencies and had big names like Uber and PayPal on board. But man, did they hit a wall with regulators! By early 2022, Meta threw in the towel and sold Diem's assets to the crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank.

Since then, stablecoins have been on fire, especially with fintechs and big shots in the U.S. And under the Trump administration, they've been a big part of the financial game plan.

Just last week, Stripe jumped on the bandwagon, rolling out stablecoin-based financial accounts in over 100 countries. And last month, Visa teamed up with Bridge and threw some cash at stablecoin startup BVNK, while Fidelity's cooking up their own stablecoin.

But as more and more companies get in on the action, Washington's still scratching its head over how to keep the stablecoin market in check.

On May 8, the U.S. Senate threw a wrench in the works, voting down the GENIUS Act, which was supposed to set up a federal framework for stablecoins. The vote was a nail-biter, 48–49, and didn't make the cut to start the real debate.

Even though the bill had bipartisan support in the Senate Banking Committee, it hit a wall when some Democrats got cold feet at the last minute. They were worried about not having enough safeguards against shady financial dealings and the risks of stablecoins coming from overseas.