Meta is officially dipping its toes back into the crypto waters. Years after the high-profile regulatory dismantling of its Libra (later Diem) project, the social media titan has begun rolling out stablecoin payouts for select creators. By leveraging Stripe’s financial infrastructure, Meta is turning to established public blockchains to handle the “plumbing” of global content monetization.

Link to the Future: How It Works

The initiative allows eligible creators to link a crypto wallet to their accounts to receive earnings in USDC, the dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle. Unlike Meta’s previous attempts to create its own currency, this program utilizes existing, high-speed public infrastructure.

Creators can choose to receive funds on either Solana or Polygon, both known for low transaction costs and high throughput.

The service is powered by Link, Stripe’s checkout and payment service. Stripe handles the heavy lifting of the crypto-to-fiat reporting and wallet integration.

To satisfy global regulators, both Meta and Stripe will generate tax documents tied to these digital asset transactions, ensuring the program stays within the lines of local financial laws.

Testing Grounds: Colombia and the Philippines

Meta isn’t launching globally just yet. The pilot is currently restricted to select creators in Colombia and the Philippines. These markets are strategic choices: both countries have high rates of “under-banked” populations and are among the world leaders in crypto adoption and remittance inflows.

For a creator in Manila or Bogotá, receiving USDC can be significantly faster and cheaper than waiting for a traditional SWIFT transfer, which often involves multiple intermediary banks and heavy currency conversion fees. By using blockchain rails, Meta can settle these payments nearly instantly, regardless of the creator’s proximity to a physical bank.

From “Diem” to Deployment: A Strategic Shift

The launch marks a significant vibe shift in Meta’s approach to the metaverse and digital economy. In 2022, Meta was forced to sell the intellectual property of its Diem project to Silvergate Bank following immense pressure from central banks and politicians who feared a private corporation controlling a global currency.

By using USDC, Meta is sidestepping the private money controversy. This regulation-first approach mirrors the moves made by other 2026 industry leaders:

• Visa recently reported its stablecoin settlement volume hit a $7 billion annualized run rate.
• Stripe has fully re-integrated crypto into its core product suite after a years-long hiatus.

With over 3 billion monthly active users, Meta’s successful pilot could turn stablecoins into the standard for the gig economy and the creator economy at a global scale.

“Businesses can now send stablecoin payouts directly to customers using Link. We’re already partnering with Meta so their creators can receive stablecoins in their Link wallets in countries like the Philippines and Colombia,” Jay Shah, head of Link at Stripe, noted.

DeFi & FinTech, News

In a major move for mobile-first decentralized finance, Trust Wallet has officially integrated Hyperliquid, the world’s largest decentralized perpetual exchange (DEX). The partnership, announced on April 29, 2026, grants Trust Wallet’s 220 million+ users direct, self-custodial access to over 200 perpetual futures markets without requiring them to leave the app or navigate complex external bridges.

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— Trust Wallet (@TrustWallet) April 29, 2026

High-Performance Trading in Your Pocket

The integration leverages Hyperliquid’s high-performance Layer 1 blockchain to solve the friction typically associated with onchain derivatives. The Trade menu within Trust Wallet now allows for deposits from any supported chain or asset, which are automatically swapped into USDC collateral and made available for trading in under two seconds.

This speed and cross-chain flexibility are aimed at capturing the growing “mobile-native” trader demographic. By removing the need for manual bridging or API key management, Trust Wallet is effectively bringing a centralized exchange (CEX) experience to a fully self-custodial environment.

Beyond Crypto: Rise of RWA Perps

Perhaps the most significant feature of this launch is the inclusion of Real-World Asset (RWA) perpetuals. Through Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 infrastructure and its partner Trade.xyz, Trust Wallet users can now gain onchain exposure to commodities, indices, and traditional markets.

As of March 2026, Hyperliquid’s RWA sector has seen explosive growth, with open interest in tokenized commodities recently surpassing $7 billion. For many users in emerging markets, this represents the first time they can trade global benchmarks like US oil or the S&P 500 with as little as a few dollars, bypassing traditional brokerage barriers.

The integration comes at a time when decentralized derivatives are dominating the crypto landscape. In 2025, the ratio of Perp DEX volume to spot volume reached a staggering 11.5x, a shift driven by traders seeking capital efficiency and hedging tools during periods of high volatility.

The Self-Custody Commitment

Despite the institutional-grade features, the integration remains strictly self-custodial. Users retain full control of their private keys, and the “Agent Kit” technology allows for advanced strategies like DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging) and limit orders to be executed autonomously by the wallet on the user’s behalf.

“The Hyperliquid integration isn’t just closing a gap,” Trust Wallet stated in the announcement. “It’s our commitment to giving users access to the leading on-chain trading infrastructure where they already live.” While the feature is restricted in certain jurisdictions due to local regulations, its global rollout marks another step toward the total convergence of traditional commodities trading and blockchain technology.

DeFi & FinTech, News

The multi-chain future of global finance is no longer a theory; it’s a $7 billion-a-year reality. On April 29, 2026, Visa announced a massive expansion of its stablecoin settlement pilot, adding support for five new blockchains: Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo. This brings the total number of supported networks to nine, providing institutional partners with unprecedented choice in how they settle digital dollar transactions.

Scaling at $7 Billion: Momentum of Onchain Settlement

Visa’s pilot program isn’t just growing; it’s accelerating. The network reported a $7 billion annualized stablecoin settlement run rate, marking a staggering 50% increase over the previous quarter. This surge reflects a broader shift where stablecoins are moving out of the “experimental” phase and into mainstream treasury and payment flows.

“Our partners are building in a multi-chain world, and they expect their options to reflect that reality. Expanding our stablecoin settlement pilot program means our partners can choose the networks that best fit their needs, while relying on Visa to provide a common settlement layer across all of them,” Rubail Birwadker, Global Head of Growth Products at Visa, stated.

Why the “Multi-Chain Reality” Matters

The move acknowledges a fundamental truth of the 2026 crypto landscape: liquidity is no longer concentrated in one place. Developers and institutions are choosing blockchains like they choose cloud providers based on specific geographic, regulatory, or performance requirements.

Visa is positioning itself as the “universal adapter.” By supporting nine different rails, they eliminate the underlying complexity for banks, who can now interact with multiple ecosystems through a single, trusted Visa connection.

This expansion supports Visa’s 130+ stablecoin-linked card programs across 50 countries, ensuring that a user in Brazil using a Polygon-based wallet and a user in Europe on a Canton-based institutional rail can both be serviced by the same global settlement logic.

Notably, Jesse Pollak (Founder of Base) and Nikhil Chandhok (Circle) both highlighted the rise of “agent-driven” economic activity. As AI agents begin to transact autonomously (as seen in yesterday’s Telegram/TON news), they require high-speed, low-cost rails like Base and Arc to settle instantly.

Bridging of Two Worlds

While traditional settlement rails (like SWIFT) remain the backbone of global finance, Visa is clearly building a “viable complement” using blockchain. By bringing its standards of security and reliability to these nine chains, Visa is effectively de-risking onchain settlement for the world’s largest financial institutions.

As Nikhil Chandhok of Circle put it, the demand for stablecoins like USDC to settle “today’s payment flows instantly” is only going up. With nine chains now under its belt, Visa is ready to handle that volume.

DeFi & FinTech, News

In a move that signals the deepening maturity of the digital dollar economy in the Global South, stablecoin giant Tether has led a $14 million Series A funding round for Belo, an Argentine digital wallet. The investment, announced on April 29, 2026, aims to turn Belo into the primary financial hub for freelancers and businesses navigating the fragmented currencies of Latin America.

Expansion Blueprint: Beyond Argentina

Belo isn’t just playing for the home team anymore. With a user base already exceeding 3 million, the company is deploying this fresh capital to launch in six new markets: Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

The strategy is surgical. By targeting the “borderless” workforce (freelancers, remote employees, and cross-border companies), Belo is building a corridor that allows users to receive digital dollars (USDT/USDC) and instantly flip them into local fiat or spend them via integrated payment networks like Brazil’s Pix.

Stablecoins as the LatAm Financial Engine

The investment comes as Latin America solidifies its status as the world’s most aggressive stablecoin adopter. In 2025, transaction volumes in the region hit $324 billion, with stablecoins now accounting for nearly 20% of all remittances.

For Tether, leading this round isn’t just about a return on investment; it’s about infrastructure. By backing Belo, Tether is securing its position as the preferred “liquidity rail” for the region’s daily transactions, moving beyond simple value storage and into the heart of retail commerce.

Scaling a Sustainable Business

In a fintech landscape often criticized for growth at any cost, Belo stands out for its three-year streak of profitability. CEO Manuel Beaudroit emphasized that this round is about scaling a proven, sustainable model rather than a frantic search for a viable product.

“We reached this round with three years of profitable operations and a product that people use in their daily lives. This round is about scaling,” Beaudroit stated.

By combining foreign exchange, cross-border transfers, and local payments into a single flow, Belo is effectively absorbing the complexity of Latin American regulation and turning it into a “one-tap” experience for the end user. As Tether fuels this expansion, the gap between the under-banked and the global economy continues to shrink.

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