Tech company Meta is reportedly exploring integrating stablecoin payments into its platforms after a three-year hiatus from cryptocurrencies, Fortune reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The Facebook parent held talks with several crypto infrastructure firms in consultation but has not chosen a decisive course of action, according to the report.

One source said the company may take a multi-token approach and integrate support for popular stablecoins such as Tether’s USDt (USDT), Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) and others.

Meta is the latest tech firm to integrate or explore the use of stablecoins for payments, as they increasingly attract institutional interest and investment, causing the stablecoin market capitalization to soar past $230 billion.

An overview of the stablecoin market. Source: RWA.XYZ

Related: US Stablecoin bill blocked as Democrats withdraw support

Stablecoins attract more institutional investment and become US strategic interest

Several payment processing companies announced investments into stablecoin companies or announced stablecoin integrations in May this year.

On May 7, payments giant Visa announced that it invested in stablecoin startup BVNK. Although details of the deal remain scant, Visa’s head of products and partnerships, Rubail Birwadker, said stablecoins were commanding an ever-greater market share of payments.

Stripe, a global payments platform, launched stablecoin-based accounts for customers in over 100 countries on May 7.

The accounts allow users to store stablecoin balances or transfer the tokens to other users and withdraw the stablecoin balances as fiat currency to traditional bank accounts.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a crypto firm backed by US President Donald Trump, launched USD1, a US dollar-pegged stablecoin, in March.

In May, USD1 was the seventh-largest stablecoin by market cap — highlighting the rapid growth of the tokenized fiat market.

The Trump administration has repeatedly stated that stablecoins are central to US policy and a way to extend US dollar hegemony by harnessing demand for US government Treasurys and other government securities.

Source: Scott Bessent

However, comprehensive stablecoin regulations were stalled on May 8 after Democratic Senators blocked the GENIUS Stablecoin bill — dashing the hopes of senior officials in the Trump administration.

“The Senate missed an opportunity to provide leadership today by failing to advance the GENIUS Act. This bill represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand dollar dominance,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote in a May 8 X post.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom

Key takeaways:

97% of the $8.3 billion in Bitcoin put options expire worthless at a $102,000 BTC price.

Short covering above $105,000 could trigger a Bitcoin price rally to new highs.

Bitcoin (BTC) soared above $101,000 on May 8, reaching its highest level in over three months. The 4.6% daily BTC price gain triggered $205 million in liquidations of bearish futures positions and eroded the value of nearly every put (sell) option. Traders now question whether Bitcoin is poised to break its $109,354 all-time high in the near term.

Bitcoin put (sell) options open interest for May-June-July, USD notional. Source: Laevitas.ch

The aggregate Bitcoin put (sell) option open interest for the next three months stands at $8.3 billion, but 97% of those have been placed below $101,000 and will likely expire worthless. Still, this does not mean every put options trader was betting on Bitcoin’s downside, as some may have sold those instruments and profited from the price gains.

Top BTC option strategies at Deribit past two weeks. Source: Laevitas.ch

Among the largest option strategies traded at Deribit is the “bull put spread,” which involves selling a put option while simultaneously buying another put at a lower strike price, capping both maximum profit and downside risk. For example, a trader aiming to profit from higher prices might sell the $100,000 put and buy the $95,000 put.

Bull put spread profit/loss. Source: Strike-Money

Cryptocurrency traders are known for their exaggerated optimism, and this is reflected in the leading strategies on Deribit’s options markets, such as the “bull call spread” and the “bull diagonal spread.” In both cases, traders anticipate Bitcoin prices at expiry to be equal to or higher than the options traded.

$100,000 Bitcoin boosts bullish options, but shorts may resist

If Bitcoin sustains the $100,000 level, most bullish strategies will yield positive results in the May and June options expiries, giving traders additional incentives to support upward momentum. However, there is the possibility that sellers (shorts) using futures markets will exert their influence to prevent a new Bitcoin all-time high.

Related: Coinbase to acquire options trading platform Deribit for $2.9B

The aggregate open interest on Bitcoin futures currently stands at $69 billion, indicating substantial demand for short (sell) positions. At the same time, higher prices might force bears to close their positions. However, this “short covering” effect is significantly muted in fully hedged positions, meaning those traders are not particularly sensitive to Bitcoin price movements.

For instance, one could buy spot Bitcoin positions using margin or spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) while simultaneously selling the equivalent in BTC futures. Known as the “carry trade,” this strategy is delta neutral, so the profit comes regardless of price swings, as the monthly Bitcoin futures trade at a premium to compensate for the longer settlement period.

Bitcoin 2-month futures annualized premium. Source: laevitas.ch

The Bitcoin futures premium has been below 8% for the past three months, so the incentives for the “carry trade” have been limited. Hence, it is likely that some form of “short covering” will occur if Bitcoin surges above $105,000, which greatly improves the odds of a new all-time high over the next couple of months.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Coinbase’s agreement to buy Deribit highlights the increasing importance of financial derivatives for cryptocurrency exchanges, according to industry executives. 

On May 8, Coinbase, the US’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, agreed to acquire crypto derivatives platform Deribit for $2.9 billion in the crypto industry’s largest corporate acquisition to date.  

The deal reflects increasing competition among digital asset exchanges and brokerages — including Coinbase, Kraken and Robinhood — to dominate the burgeoning crypto derivatives market. 

“Global derivatives trading is a key driver of growth for Coinbase,” Spencer Yang, co-founder of Fractal Bitcoin, a Bitcoin scaling solution, told Cointelegraph.

Coinbase agreed to buy Deribit on May 8. Source: Coinbase

The merger established Coinbase as the world’s largest crypto derivatives platform by open interest, the exchange said in a blog post announcing the deal. 

In a May 8 X post, Jeff Park, Bitwise’s head of alpha strategies, said Coinbase’s Deribit acquisition “might be the best ‘value’ deal in crypto I’ve ever seen,” adding the the deal is “a coup for Coinbase.”

In March, US crypto exchange Kraken agreed to buy NinjaTrader, a futures brokerage, for $1.5 billion.

Coinbase’s international derivatives exchange saw some $10 billion in trading volume on May 8. Source: Coinbase

Related: Coinbase to acquire options trading platform Deribit for $2.9B

Expanding global footprint

Coinbase already has a global presence in perpetual futures, with roughly $10 billion in daily trading volume as of May 8. It also has a US-based derivatives trading platform listing more than 20 futures contracts. 

Deribit is the largest crypto options exchange, with about $30 trillion in open interest, according to the blog post. 

With this acquisition, Coinbase “has captured all possible regulated and self-regulated derivatives products,” Yang added.

It also bolstered Coinbase’s presence in the global market, which is still dominated by Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume. Deribit does not serve US-based traders, according to its website. 

“Deribit is the platform of choice for global traders for Bitcoin and Ethereum options,” Yang said.

Futures contracts are standardized agreements to buy or sell an underlying asset at a future date, often using leverage in a bid to enhance returns.

Options are contracts granting the right to buy or sell — “call” or “put,” in trader parlance — an underlying asset at a certain price.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight