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Libra Rebounds After Failure
Meta’s new initiative has attracted market attention, as the company previously led the launch of the blockchain payment project Libra (later renamed Diem) in 2019. However, it officially announced its termination in 2022 due to global regulatory pressures. Now, if Meta re-enters the stablecoin market, it coincides with a period when this sector has become the hottest among cryptocurrency and traditional financial enterprises.
International financial and technology giants such as Ripple, Mastercard, Visa, ING, and Stripe have already entered the stablecoin race. Standard Chartered Bank even predicts that the global stablecoin market value is expected to reach 2 trillion USD by 2028. Meta’s move to restart its stablecoin initiative signifies that major tech platforms have not lost interest in cryptocurrency payment applications, especially against the backdrop of the continuous evolution of cross-border financial infrastructure. Stablecoins are rapidly becoming strong competitors to traditional payment networks. Meta’s involvement is bound to accelerate industry convergence and policy debates.
Stablecoin Regulation Faces Obstacles
However, as the stablecoin market grows rapidly, the U.S. Congress has also begun to scrutinize it more strictly. According to previous reports by Zombit, a bill regulating stablecoins failed to pass procedural votes in the Senate, mainly due to concerns from Democratic lawmakers regarding consumer protection and the structure of the provisions. Issues include a lack of clear regulations for foreign stablecoin issuers and insufficient incorporation of anti-money laundering mechanisms.
Moreover, the bill has faced strong skepticism from Democrats due to former President Trump’s involvement with stablecoin-related company World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which has increased legislative difficulties. WLFI recently issued a stablecoin named USD1, which has already risen to become the seventh-largest stablecoin globally.