- Meta launches a pilot so eligible creators in Colombia and the Philippines can receive earnings in USDC on Solana and Polygon.
- Stripe (via its Bridge acquisition) powers the crypto payment rails, tax reporting and cross‑border infrastructure.
- The program marks Meta’s return to crypto payments after the failed Libra/Diem project, now using Circle’s regulated USDC.
- Meta plans a broader global rollout in 2026, potentially bringing stablecoin payouts to billions of users across its apps.
Meta is rolling out a new option for content creators to get paid in USDC stablecoins instead of local currency, starting with a pilot in Colombia and the Philippines. The move brings the company back into the crypto arena, but this time with a much more cautious, infrastructure‑driven approach.
Under this program, qualifying creators on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp can link a compatible crypto wallet and receive their payouts in USDC on the Solana or Polygon networks. Stripe, leveraging its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure startup Bridge, acts as Meta’s backend partner for settlement and tax documentation.
How Meta’s USDC payout pilot works
The new system lets creators who already monetize on Meta platforms switch their payout method from traditional fiat to USDC, a dollar‑pegged stablecoin issued by Circle. Inside their Meta payout settings, eligible users can opt into crypto, add a supported wallet address, and start receiving future earnings in USDC.
Once the option is enabled, Stripe converts the creator’s eligible earnings into USDC and sends them to the wallet address provided, on either Solana or Polygon. Meta itself does not issue a token, run a blockchain, or custody funds; it simply routes the payouts through Stripe’s crypto rails.
The pilot currently restricts payouts to the Solana and Polygon networks, chosen for their low fees and fast confirmation times. Solana is known for sub‑second settlement and transaction costs often below a fraction of a cent, while Polygon serves as a high‑throughput scaling layer for the Ethereum ecosystem.
Supported wallets in the test include MetaMask, Phantom, Binance, Bybit, Kraken, Exodus, Brave Wallet, Bitso, GCash’s GCrypto and Coins.ph. In the Philippines, GCash and Coins.ph already act as major on‑ramps and off‑ramps for crypto, which makes USDC payouts easier to convert or spend locally.
Meta emphasizes that crypto transfers are irreversible. If a creator enters an incorrect wallet address or picks the wrong network, the company cannot retrieve those funds. Creators are also responsible for managing their own wallet credentials and private keys, as Meta does not provide custody services.
Why Colombia and the Philippines were chosen
The choice of Colombia and the Philippines is not random; both markets have large creator communities that struggle with expensive, slow banking when receiving international payments. Many already earn in U.S. dollars but lose a notable share to conversion fees and transfer costs.
In Colombia, creators often face currency volatility, multi‑day settlement times and fees that can climb to 5-8% for smaller cross‑border payouts. For those relying on digital content income, these frictions reduce take‑home earnings and complicate cash‑flow planning.
In the Philippines, international transfers commonly take three to five days and can cost $15-$25 per transaction. For gig workers and independent creators who receive frequent, relatively small payouts, that structure is far from ideal. Stablecoins like USDC on Solana or Polygon can move value in seconds for a tiny fraction of those costs.
By starting in these two countries, Meta is effectively testing whether stablecoin rails can solve a very concrete pain point: getting cross‑border creator earnings delivered more quickly and cheaply than legacy banking allows, without overhauling local financial systems.
At the same time, both Colombia and the Philippines already show above‑average crypto adoption compared with many developed markets. That makes them suitable testbeds for features that assume at least a basic familiarity with wallets and digital assets.
Meta, Stripe and the role of Bridge in the backend
Although Meta’s brand dominates the headlines, much of the heavy lifting happens behind the scenes via Stripe and its stablecoin infrastructure arm Bridge. Stripe acquired Bridge in early 2025 for around $1.1 billion, betting that stablecoins would become a mainstream payment rail for digital businesses.
Bridge originally built an API layer that lets companies send and receive stablecoins without managing blockchain complexity directly. Its client list grew rapidly, reportedly including firms like Coinbase and SpaceX before the acquisition. With Bridge in‑house, Stripe can now offer stablecoin payouts to any of its merchants, Meta included.
For Meta’s pilot, Stripe handles conversion into USDC, transaction routing on Solana and Polygon, and much of the compliance and reporting workflow. This allows Meta to plug into regulated crypto infrastructure instead of building and maintaining its own stack, as it attempted in the Libra/Diem era.
Stripe already operates stablecoin functionality in dozens of countries, from cross‑border payroll via partners like Remote.com to recurring subscription payments in USDC on networks such as Base and Polygon. Meta’s program is one of the first large‑scale consumer‑facing deployments of that same infrastructure.
From Stripe’s perspective, the collaboration positions the company as a neutral payments layer between conventional internet platforms and blockchain networks. If the Meta pilot scales, it could reinforce Stripe’s role as a key connector between big tech platforms and the stablecoin ecosystem.
Tax reporting, regulation and the impact of the GENIUS Act
On the compliance side, Meta and Stripe are explicitly accounting for the fact that crypto payouts trigger tax obligations just like fiat payments. Creators will continue receiving Meta’s standard tax forms, such as 1099 or 1042 in the U.S., summarizing total earnings from the platform.
Because part of those earnings may now arrive as digital assets, Stripe can generate additional crypto‑specific tax documentation, simplifying reporting for creators and for Meta itself. The exact paperwork will vary by jurisdiction, but the aim is to reduce the need for manual bookkeeping based on wallet histories alone.
The regulatory environment in which this pilot launches is very different from the landscape Meta faced when it announced Libra in 2019. Since mid‑2025, the GENIUS Act in the United States has provided a dedicated legal framework for payment stablecoins, spelling out reserve requirements, licensing and supervision. Regulatory and banking actions in recent years have reshaped how large platforms approach stablecoin integrations.
Under the GENIUS Act, issuers of payment stablecoins must hold fully backed reserves in dollars or low‑risk assets, undergo regular audits and obtain federal authorization. Circle, the company behind USDC, was largely aligned with these standards even before the law came into force, which made USDC an obvious candidate for regulated corporate use.
This helps explain why Meta opted for USDC rather than launching a new proprietary token or relying on alternatives like USDT. While Tether’s USDT is larger by market cap, its transparency practices have drawn more scrutiny, and it does not plug into the U.S. regulatory framework in the same way USDC does.
From Libra and Diem to USDC: a radically different strategy
Meta’s decision to lean on USDC marks a sharp departure from its earlier attempt to build a home‑grown digital currency under the Libra, later Diem, banner. That project, revealed in 2019, envisioned a global payment token governed by a consortium of tech and finance companies, heavily influenced by Meta.
Regulators in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere reacted swiftly, raising concerns that a Meta‑backed global currency could undermine monetary policy and financial stability. Political pressure mounted, partners dropped out, and by early 2022 Meta sold off the Diem assets to Silvergate Capital for roughly $200 million.
With the current USDC pilot, Meta is taking almost the opposite tack. Instead of issuing a new asset, it uses a third‑party stablecoin regulated under existing law. Instead of operating the core financial infrastructure, it outsources settlement, compliance and tax processes to Stripe.
In practice, Meta shifts its role from would‑be bank to large‑scale corporate customer of established crypto payment providers. The company offers stablecoin payouts as one more option within its monetization toolbox, while leaving the underlying financial mechanics to partners built for that purpose.
This contrast can be summarized across a few dimensions: Libra/Diem aimed to be a global currency for billions of users from day one, running on a new proprietary blockchain and wallet stack. The USDC pilot, by comparison, targets a subset of creators in just two countries, built on public networks and external wallets.
Practical implications for creators and the stablecoin ecosystem
For individual creators, the most immediate change is the option to receive earnings in a dollar‑denominated digital asset without going through banks. Once funds arrive in their wallets, they can hold USDC, swap it for other crypto, or cash out via exchanges and local payment apps.
Meta does not automatically convert USDC into local fiat; that part is left to the user, who must rely on exchanges or on‑off‑ramp services. While this adds flexibility, it also demands more financial literacy, especially around managing private keys, fees and potential price slippage when converting.
The company is transparent that it may switch a creator back to conventional payout methods if technical issues or compliance concerns arise around stablecoin payments. That safeguard gives Meta room to adjust without committing to crypto as the sole or permanent payout rail.
Beyond individual users, the pilot intersects with a broader shift in digital finance. Over the past few years, major firms like PayPal, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard and Western Union have either launched or tested stablecoin integrations. Shopify merchants can already accept USDC, and other platforms are experimenting with stablecoin‑based payouts for workers and sellers.
The overall stablecoin market has grown into a multi‑hundred‑billion‑dollar sector, with transaction volumes that routinely rival those of traditional card networks. Research from firms such as Chainalysis suggests that stablecoin settlement volumes could reach into the quadrillions of dollars by the mid‑2030s if current trends continue.
Solana, Polygon and potential global expansion in 2026
On the infrastructure side, Meta’s choice of Solana and Polygon as settlement networks may have lasting implications. Both chains are optimized for high throughput and low costs, traits that become critical at scale when handling potentially millions of micro‑payouts to creators.
Solana, for example, processes blocks in roughly 400 milliseconds with fees often below $0.001 per transaction. Those characteristics have already attracted a mix of DeFi projects, consumer apps and corporate experiments. An integration linked to Meta’s creator economy adds another layer of validation for its payments use case.
Polygon, meanwhile, operates as a scaling solution connected to the wider Ethereum ecosystem, where a significant portion of stablecoin liquidity already lives. Routing payouts over Polygon lets Meta and Stripe tap into that liquidity while keeping gas costs manageable.
Meta’s reach across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is enormous: the combined user base numbers in the billions of monthly active accounts across more than 180 countries. Even though the pilot is limited to creators in just two markets, internal payout data suggests the volumes could be meaningful if scaled. Meta reportedly paid nearly $3 billion to creators in 2025 alone, up roughly 35% from the prior year.
Executives and partners close to the project have hinted that, if the pilot performs well, Meta could extend USDC payouts to over 160 countries during 2026. Every new market would increase potential demand for USDC and add transactional volume on Solana and Polygon, further entrenching stablecoins as a backbone for cross‑border creator payments.
Looking forward, whether stablecoin payouts become the default or remain a niche option will likely hinge on user experience, regulatory stability and the reliability of the underlying networks. If creators consistently see faster, cheaper payouts without major technical hiccups, pressure could grow on rivals to adopt similar models.
All told, Meta’s move to pay creators in USDC via Solana and Polygon signals a more measured, infrastructure‑first return to the crypto space, one that leans on regulated partners like Circle and Stripe while targeting a very specific use case: cross‑border creator earnings that are faster, cheaper and more flexible than traditional bank transfers.
