On April 29, 2026, Meta began piloting USDC stablecoin payments to select creators in Colombia and the Philippines, who can receive payments via cryptocurrency wallets supporting the Solana and Polygon blockchain networks, with related services supported by the payment company Stripe. However, this seemingly small-scale creator payment pilot quickly caught the attention of the United States Congress: Elizabeth Warren, the Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, sent a letter to Meta founder, chairman, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, requesting a detailed explanation regarding this stablecoin pilot and future integration plans.
From the market's perspective, Meta did not launch its own stablecoin project with great fanfare, but merely introduced USDC, a third-party stablecoin as a payment method for creators; why would this still trigger regulatory scrutiny? If on-chain payments further expand within the Meta ecosystem to scenarios such as advertising payments, creator tipping, e-commerce transactions, or subscription services in the future, what new regulatory issues concerning taxation and compliance will arise? Starting from the core content of Meta's current pilot, combined with the historical legacy of the Libra (Diem) digital currency project and the latest regulatory trends for U.S. digital assets, this article will elaborate on the regulatory logic behind Meta's stablecoin pilot.
Under Meta's existing creator payment system, creator earnings are typically calculated in U.S. dollars, and bank or PayPal accounts convert these revenues into local currencies. This process relies on intermediary steps such as currency exchange and cross-border clearing, which firstly take a long time, and secondly, may incur substantial fees and exchange rate losses. Meta's official help page indicates: payment arrival time depends on the specific bank and may take 1 to 7 business days; international payments may take up to 10 days to enter a bank or PayPal account.
Distinct from the existing payment system, Meta's current pilot offers creators a new alternative: eligible creators can enter a wallet address supporting USDC on the Solana or Polygon networks into the Facebook payment system, allowing creators to directly receive the USD-pegged on-chain asset USDC. This detaches creator payments from traditional banking channels, turning instead to utilizing blockchain networks to settle transactions, reducing reliance on cross-border banking intermediaries and shortening the time from platform disbursement to wallet receipt. However, Meta is not responsible for converting USDC into local currencies; if creators need to exchange USDC for local currency, they must find alternative fiat off-ramps, a process that may incur additional time and financial costs.
Meta has not yet publicly provided a detailed explanation as to why the pilot is limited to Colombia and the Philippines, but judging from the nature of the pilot, these two markets align well with the application logic of cross-border stablecoin payments. On the one hand, both countries have substantial cross-border payment and settlement needs. The Philippines is a typical remittance-driven economy, where overseas labor remittances have long been a crucial source of its foreign exchange revenue. Data from the Philippine central bank shows that in 2025, cash remittances sent by overseas Filipino workers through banking channels amounted to approximately 35.634 billion U.S. dollars. Although Colombia is not as renowned for overseas labor remittances as the Philippines, its remittance inflows have similarly experienced rapid growth in recent years: in 2025, the country received approximately 13.098 billion U.S. dollars in remittances, representing a year-on-year increase of 10.6%, accounting for roughly 3% of its GDP. The massive cross-border capital market equips creators in both countries with stronger demands for cross-border payments and settlements. On the other hand, compared to regional markets like the United States, the European Union, and Brazil, the overall scale of the crypto markets in Colombia and the Philippines is smaller, rendering the risks more manageable without directly challenging the local payment systems and regulatory landscapes, thus making them more suitable as early pilot samples.
Simultaneously, both countries possess a certain foundation in the usage of crypto assets. Chainalysis's 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Report indicates that the Asia-Pacific and Latin America are respectively among the regions with the fastest-growing on-chain activities, with stablecoins continuing to occupy a vital position in cross-border payments and crypto market infrastructures. Only if the pilots in the Philippines and Colombia proceed smoothly, will it be more likely for Meta to expand similar models to more creator markets in the future, or even extend them to more complex payment scenarios such as ad payments, subscriptions, e-commerce, or tipping.
Regulatory concerns regarding Meta's move are not unfounded. Given that Meta’s platforms have more than 3.5 billion daily active users, Warren pointed out in her letter: "Any attempt to control, influence, or favor a certain stablecoin on Meta's platforms—even if such a stablecoin is issued by a third party—could have severe consequences for competition, privacy, the integrity of the payment system, and financial stability." Warren's statement reveals Congress's core concern regarding this pilot: whether Meta will leverage its platform gateways and user relationships to participate in shaping the landscape of the stablecoin market.
In fact, the reason this pilot rapidly entered the purview of congressional lawmakers is largely rooted in the historical legacy of Meta's prior Libra project. In 2019, Meta's predecessor, Facebook, announced the launch of the Libra digital currency project. Unlike ordinary crypto asset projects, Libra bore distinct platform financial infrastructure attributes from the very beginning: relying on Facebook's massive global user network, it attempted to establish a digital currency system usable in cross-border payments, transfers, and commercial scenarios. Upon its announcement, the project immediately encountered intense scrutiny from the U.S. Congress and global regulatory bodies. Later that same year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg was subpoenaed to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services to face questioning regarding Facebook's financial services plans and the Libra project. Subsequently, the Libra Association was renamed the Diem Association in December 2020, attempting to dilute its Facebook coloration and advance the project anew with a more compliant and independent image; however, under sustained regulatory pressure, the project was ultimately terminated in 2022.
For Meta, the failure of Libra/Diem was not simply a product failure, but also a major setback in its regulatory relations. This project led the U.S. Congress to form a relatively stable judgment: when a large tech platform with billions of users enters the digital currency and payment sector, even if its technical solutions undergo adjustments, it must be subjected to stricter scrutiny.
As for Senator Warren, it is precisely Meta's various historical actions in the digital currency payment sector that have led her to maintain a long-standing, cautious skepticism toward Meta's cryptocurrency endeavors. In addition to viewing the failure of Libra (Diem) as a cautionary tale of a big tech platform issuing private currency, she co-signed a letter last year with Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic Senator from Connecticut, expressing concerns over Meta's stablecoin plans, with a particular focus on whether Meta might restart its own stablecoin project.
In her letter, Senator Warren's inquiries encompass two main aspects: first, requesting Meta to exhaustively disclose the specific details of this third-party stablecoin pilot, including how Meta selects stablecoins and partners, whether commercial arrangements exist, and how risk controls and privacy protections are established; second, questioning whether Meta will use this pilot as a starting point to further allow users to hold funds within the platform, and whether it still upholds its promise to never issue its own stablecoin or other similar private currency products in the future. This reflects deeper concerns among regulators: whether a limited third-party stablecoin payment pilot could become a starting point for Meta to re-enter platform financial infrastructures. According to a report by Fortune magazine, a Meta spokesperson stated: "We have communicated directly to Senator Warren on multiple occasions that there are no stablecoins on Meta platforms. We also told Senator Warren that we want users and businesses to be able to choose the payment methods they want on our platforms, which could include using third-party stablecoins."
Even if we temporarily set aside the discussion of whether Meta will further control or integrate stablecoins in the future, regulators have ample reason to suspect the impact brought by Meta's pilot. Fortune magazine cited Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, who stated that Meta's stablecoin payment plan is expected to expand to more than 160 countries by the end of this year. If the aforementioned statement holds true, Meta clearly intends to roll out payments at a massive scale within the platforms it controls. This move will afford USDC the opportunity to reach an enormous user base via one of the world's largest platform distribution channels.
For the crypto market, even if large platforms do not issue tokens themselves, they can still shape demand in other ways. Therefore, even when introducing third-party stablecoins, Meta's platform scale and market position grant this action an influence that cannot be ignored. For regulators, the issue is not only who issues the tokens, but also who controls customer relationships and payment gateways. Compared to blockchain technology itself, Meta's advantages lie primarily in distribution channels, messaging, advertising networks, and social environments. If stablecoins become an option in creator revenue sharing or commercial checkouts, the majority of users may not care which chain it runs on or which issuer supports it; they are more concerned with whether it is effective, cheap, and whether it can be conveniently accessed within the applications they use daily. Consequently, by determining which payment tools receive priority display and how users interact with them, Meta can influence the competitive conditions among different stablecoins, wallet service providers, and payment service providers.
Part of Congress's concerns regarding Libra still exists in this scenario. Leveraging its scale of 3.5 billion daily active users, Meta de facto possesses the ability to effectively control its own payment systems through its formidable economic strength, restricting access channels for small businesses and emerging competitors, which poses a risk of undermining market competition. Furthermore, although stablecoins have lower volatility than other forms of cryptocurrencies, they may still experience runs and episodes of instability.
In her letter, Senator Warren requested Meta to provide a response by May 20, a timeline that coincides with the ongoing advancement of U.S. digital asset legislation. On May 14, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking held a markup session for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (the CLARITY Act) and passed it with a 15–9 vote. In the next step, the CLARITY Act will advance to a full Senate vote.
As a broader digital asset market structure bill, the advancement of the CLARITY Act demonstrates that U.S. regulation of digital assets is no longer confined to the issuers themselves, but has begun to focus on the overall regulatory framework once digital assets enter trading, custody, payment, and platform distribution scenarios. Considering this background, the current inquiry might precisely be questioning: when a super-platform enters the stablecoin market in the capacity of a distributor, does it need to be bound by regulatory rules? Is Congress formulating rules for an industry still dominated by exchanges, wallet providers, and stablecoin issuers, or for a platform with billions of users that controls payment channels? In the latter scenario, rules tailored for issuers and exchanges might appear incomplete.
Meta is not the only large tech company venturing into stablecoins or digital asset payments. In recent years, major tech firms such as X, Apple, and Google have all explored how to integrate stablecoins into their payment technologies. The stablecoin market is entering a phase where distribution capability may be just as important as technical capability. If a global platform of Meta's scale becomes a de facto gateway for stablecoins and digital payments, banks, payment processors, and cryptocurrency companies may face higher compliance requirements, particularly concerning customer due diligence, data protection, and reserve adequacy. From this point of view, it is not surprising that Meta has become a key focus of regulatory attention this time.
For creators, being paid in stablecoins does not alter the fundamental nature of their income. Creators are still earning platform revenue through content monetization and must fulfill their reporting obligations based on their tax residency and local tax laws. The change lies in the fact that what the creator receives is no longer a fiat currency balance in a bank account or PayPal, but a USD-pegged on-chain digital asset. USDC is nominally pegged to 1 USD, but it remains a digital asset; the method by which tax information is generated and retained shifts from relatively centralized platform payment records to a multi-node chain collectively formed by platforms, payment service providers, wallets, exchanges, and on-chain records. Under traditional payment models, the Meta platform typically possesses the creators' income amounts and payment records, allowing tax authorities to establish a relatively clear chain of evidence around the platform's backend, payment accounts, and bank statements during audits. However, in a stablecoin payment model, the platform may only hold records of the income the creator earned within the platform and their linked wallet address; Stripe, as the payment infrastructure provider, controls the payment execution and associated payment records; the blockchain network logs the USDC transfer hash, time, and address; meanwhile, crypto wallets or exchanges hold records of the creators' subsequent exchanges, local fiat withdrawals, or further transfers, thereby decentralizing tax information across different entities and systems.
From a regulatory perspective, creators' tax information under the stablecoin payment system is scattered among various entities, subjecting both creators and the platform to heightened pressures regarding record-keeping, reconciliation, and auditing. This will also elevate the difficulty of tax reporting, platform information reporting, and verification by tax authorities. If this model expands from creator payments to scenarios like ad payments, tipping, subscriptions, and e-commerce transactions in the future, the prospect of further complication in the tax chain is evident.
The large-scale use of stablecoins may amplify illicit financial risks, and the cross-border flow of virtual assets will also increase the difficulty of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) governance. If stablecoin payments are promoted within the platform, enhancing Know Your Customer (KYC) and AML obligations will be a priority for the next phase of work.
In traditional bank or PayPal payments, the receiving account typically undergoes certain identity verification. Users are required to upload various documents such as bank statements, corporate documents, government-issued IDs, and selfies for identity verification; if they fail the verification, they will be removed from monetization eligibility and have their earnings frozen or even lose their income. Given that banks or PayPal have already established mature mechanisms for real-name account opening, anti-money laundering screening, and abnormal transaction monitoring and processing, it is relatively easy to establish correspondence among platform accounts, receiving accounts, and real identities.
Stablecoin payments alter this identity correspondence structure. Creators fill in a wallet address during the payment process; Meta knows who the platform account belongs to, but it does not inherently know who controls the wallet address. Under this structure, the focal point of KYC shifts to the wallet address linked to the platform account and its controlling relationship. Although Meta can verify whether the address is usable and whether it is controlled by the user through methods like wallet signatures or third-party payment provider verification, and can screen address risks via on-chain analytics tools, such verification is demonstrably more complex and difficult.
If stablecoin payments are solely used for Meta to disburse revenues to creators, the risks are primarily concentrated in payee verification and wallet address screening; however, if this extends in the future to scenarios such as tipping, subscriptions, ad deposits, e-commerce transactions, and social transfers, Meta will face a vast volume of small, high-frequency, cross-border multi-party transactions. Illicit funds could be packaged as fan tipping, fake subscriptions, ad placements, creator collaborations, or platform merchandise transactions, and the platform needs to identify not only "where the money comes from and where it goes," but also whether the underlying commercial purpose of the transaction is authentic: who the creator is, why the revenue was generated, whether fan tipping is genuine, whether ad placements are anomalous, and whether suspicious connections exist among multiple accounts, etc. Payment service providers, wallets, and on-chain analytics tools can shoulder a portion of the technical AML work, such as identity verification, address screening, and on-chain transaction monitoring. However, they typically lack visibility into the complete transaction background within the Meta platform, making it difficult to judge whether a payment is a genuine tip or a money-laundering disguise. Therefore, as the organizer of the transaction scenarios, Meta cannot simply outsource its AML responsibilities entirely to third-party service providers.
If on-chain payments further roll out within the Meta ecosystem in the future, Meta's role will also shift accordingly. Stablecoins will no longer merely be an outlet for platforms to pay creators, but will become a multi-directional payment tool among users, creators, merchants, advertisers, and the platform. At that point, defining its boundary of responsibility solely based on whether it issues stablecoins is overly narrow. The GENIUS Act tends to place regulatory attention more directly on stablecoin issuers such as Circle. However, as previously mentioned, stablecoin risks do not stop at the issuers. A massive platform, even without issuing stablecoins, can shape payment demands and the cryptocurrency market landscape by selecting, displaying, promoting, and integrating a particular stablecoin.
The market structure regulatory philosophy represented by the CLARITY Act is precisely aimed at expanding the focus from single issuers to digital asset intermediaries such as trading platforms, brokers, custodians, and payment service providers. This regulatory logic demands that regulators re-examine the responsibility boundaries of super-platforms that intervene in the stablecoin market as distributors, in areas including KYC/AML, tax reporting, consumer protection, and data governance. Therefore, regulators need to further determine: does Meta perform an intermediary-like function in the stablecoin payment chain? If the answer tends to be affirmative, should it also be functionally incorporated into the corresponding responsibility allocation framework?
Meta's current USDC pilot is still in its early stages, and its scope is relatively limited. Yet, it still carries signal value—stablecoins are gradually transitioning from settlement tools internal to crypto exchanges and on-chain ecosystems into real revenue settlement scenarios within the platform economy. For creators, USDC payments may deliver a faster cross-border payment receipt; for Meta, this is a more low-profile and pragmatic crypto payment endeavor than Libra (Diem). Whether Meta will expand the scope of its payment business, progressing from creator revenue payments to broader platform payment integrations, remains to be seen in the future, but regardless, this pilot has still left the crypto market with the following lesson: when a platform with global distribution capabilities begins to influence stablecoin usage pathways with its massive user base, the focal point of regulatory attention will gradually extend from the risks of a single token to the platform power constituted by payment gateways, user relationships, and transaction data.
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