In 2019, Meta announced an audacious project: A new cryptocurrency that could be used across Facebook, WhatsApp and a host of other digital platforms. The company, though, pulled the plug on its plans in the face of withering opposition from the U.S. Congress and other lawmakers. Now, Meta is testing the crypto waters again. According to five sources familiar with the matter, the company is in discussions with crypto firms to introduce stablecoins as a means to manage payouts, and has also hired a vice president of product with crypto experience to help shepherd the discussions. All five sources, whose identities are known by Fortune, spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about private business dealings.
Meta declined to comment.
Stablecoins, a form of non-volatile cryptocurrency typically pegged to the U.S. dollar, have long been a buzzy product in the blockchain industry, but the Biden administration’s vigorous anti-crypto policies limited their mainstream adoption. Donald Trump’s election last November, however, along with the recent $1.1 billion acquisition of the stablecoin startup Bridge by payment giant Stripe, have spurred their use in the broader financial world, especially as a form of cross-border payments.
In the past month, Visa announced a partnership with the stablecoin infrastructure provider Bridge, the financial firm Fidelity revealed it is developing its own stablecoin, and Stripe unveiled new financial accounts powered by stablecoins.
Meta’s interest in the technology reflects the growing interest in stablecoins among non-crypto companies, especially as Congressional lawmakers debate two bills that would regulate stablecoins after years of regulatory uncertainty.
Meta’s crypto plans
In January, Ginger Baker started at Meta as a VP of product and specializes in fintech and payments, according to her LinkedIn. She previously worked as an executive at the fintech company Plaid and still serves on the board of the Stellar Development Foundation, a crypto company that manages a layer-1 blockchain, according to her profile. She is helping steer Meta’s stablecoin explorations, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Meta declined to make Baker available for comment.
Meta reached out to crypto infrastructure companies earlier this year, according to three people familiar with the matter. The discussions remain at a preliminary stage, but they focus on a key feature offered by stablecoins compared to fiat currency—the ability to pay out individuals across different regions without the high fees associated with other forms of payments, such as wire transfers.
One executive at a crypto infrastructure provider suggested Meta’s subsidiary Instagram could integrate stablecoins to facilitate small payouts in the range of $100 to creators in different markets, which would result in lower fees than if paid by fiat currencies. They described Meta as being in “learn mode,” adding that Meta would likely be agnostic toward the type of stablecoin they used, rather than choosing one provider, such as Circle’s USDC. Two other crypto executives also told Fortune they have held early discussions with Meta focused on the payouts use case.
Meanwhile, Circle hired Matt Cavin in March from the gaming blockchain company Immutable. He’s leading discussions with Meta and other Big Tech firms, according to one source familiar with the matter. Cavin’s LinkedIn profile describes his current role at Circle as leading “tier-1 strategic partnerships” without specifying the companies with which he’s working.
Circle declined to comment.
Stablecoin explosion
Meta’s exploration of stablecoins is especially noteworthy since it was once the most high-profile big tech firm to explore crypto integration. In 2019, Meta announced a blockchain initiative that evolved into Libra, a proposed consortium of companies including Uber and PayPal that would launch a stablecoin backed by a basket of fiat currencies. After renaming the project Diem, Meta abandoned it in early 2022 under scrutiny from regulators. Meta sold Diem’s assets to the crypto-friendly bank Silvergate.
A number of employees who worked on Libra went on to start their own crypto companies, including David Marcus, who founded the Bitcoin payment infrastructure company Lightspark. Other alumni have also gone on to repurpose Meta’s technology to launch their own blockchains. The most notable are the founders of Aptos and Sui, two blockchains that run on a proprietary programming language developed by Meta called Move.
On Tuesday, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared at a Stripe conference, where he acknowledged Diem’s failure in an on-stage discussion with Stripe cofounder John Collison, according to a video provided to Fortune. “That thing’s dead,” Zuckerberg said.
Later, when asked about Meta’s tendency to be early to tech trends, Zuckerberg said it’s “certainly more fun when you’re early than when you’re late.” But, he added, “There’s plenty of things that [we’re] late to and have to claw our way back into the game, which I think we’re pretty good at that, too.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
