What to Know:

• Meta is planning to launch a stablecoin to facilitate payouts, as reported by Fortune based on five confidential sources.
• The company has appointed Ginger Baker, a professional with crypto experience, as the Vice President of Product to spearhead the efforts surrounding stablecoin development.
• This new initiative follows the collapse of Meta’s previous blockchain effort, Diem, which faced substantial regulatory hurdles.

Details:

Tech giant Meta (META) is considering the creation of a stablecoin to streamline payments, as per Fortune, which cites multiple knowledgeable sources on the topic. They have recently recruited Ginger Baker, who possesses expertise in cryptocurrency, to assist in their stablecoin pursuit.

Meta’s re-entry into the cryptocurrency arena is noteworthy due to the previous failure of its 2019 blockchain initiative, initially called Libra, and then rebranded to Diem, which was halted in 2022 following intense scrutiny from regulators.

Should Meta proceed with this new undertaking, it will be entering at a time when stablecoins, digital currencies tethered to traditional currencies like the U.S. dollar, are emerging as a leading trend among various crypto and financial technology firms. Companies such as Ripple, Mastercard, Visa, ING, and Stripe are also venturing into the stablecoin domain. In fact, Standard Chartered has projected that the stablecoin market might swell by $2 trillion by the end of 2028.

However, there is rising concern among U.S. lawmakers regarding stablecoins. A recent vote to initiate a debate concerning a regulatory bill for this area was unsuccessful due to apprehensions about consumer protections and legal stipulations, as well as concerns regarding Trump’s own interest in stablecoins through World Liberty Financial’s USD1.