Six Years After Libra, Meta Eyes Stablecoins Again

In many ways, Facebook (now known as Meta) was ahead of the pack when it came to stablecoins and their potential. 

All the way back in 2019, the tech giant had unveiled plans to launch “Libra” — with the ambition of facilitating payments for billions of people around the world.

But these plans went down like a lead balloon in political circles, with some raising fears that it could prove calamitous for global financial stability.

One congressman, Brad Sherman, made the extraordinary assertion that Libra could do more to endanger Americans than 9/11.

After a couple of rebrands, Libra was eventually ditched by Facebook, with Mark Zuckerberg turning his attention to the metaverse instead.

But following a rebrand of his own, and a huge pro-crypto shift in Washington, there are signs the billionaire is looking to revive his stablecoin dreams.

Fortune recently reported that Meta is flirting with the idea of using stablecoins to make payouts to creators, primarily because they could cut down on fees.

Of course, there’s a huge difference between this proposal, and getting everyday users to ping money electronically to one another using a Facebook coin. Yet it’s still a significant development.

We’re now beginning to see a growing number of heavyweights, including Visa and even the Trump family, to develop or launch stablecoins of their own. 

And right now, politicians in Washington DC are currently thrashing out the finer details of the GENIUS Act, which would regulate these specific digital assets.

This might not be the bill that Meta is hoping for, though. Amendments put forward by the Democrats would mean publicly traded companies that don’t primarily deal in finance would need to satisfy rigorous checks before launching their own coins.

Yet for stablecoins to get the sort of traction that tech enthusiasts are hoping for, you could argue that involvement from a legacy firm — such as Meta or Visa — will be crucial.

Tether is undisputedly the market leader right now with a staggering capitalization of $151 billion — up 36% compared with this time a year ago. 

But this is a company that’s faced burning questions about whether it has adequate reserves to back up all of this USDT — and as it’s primarily traded on exchanges, which sometimes struggle when it comes to usability, they haven’t really been embraced extensively by the public at large so far. 

The key to unlocking widespread adoption will involve creating a slick user experience with clear, tangible benefits for consumers — definitive proof that stablecoins are better than the digital offerings available right now. There isn’t much of an advantage when it comes to day-to-day payments down your local shop, but huge dividends for those trying to make remittances internationally. 

Crypto’s biggest hurdle has been, and continues to be, being straightforward. Most members of the public don’t care how a blockchain works, and don’t want to know. They simply want to get funds from A to B in the fastest, cheapest way possible.

For stablecoins to reach their full potential, bridges will need to be built between Web2 and Web3.

 

Note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FXCOINZ, its owners, or affiliates.