Lawmakers asked Mark Zuckerberg whether Meta had had any influence on the GENIUS stablecoin bill and its plans to potentially issue its own digital currency.
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Update (June 11 at 10:50 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a previous statement from Meta.
With the US Senate expected to vote on legislation to regulate payment stablecoins soon, two senators called on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to answer questions about the company’s potential plans to introduce another stablecoin.
In a Wednesday letter to Zuckerberg, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal said it was “more critical than ever that Congress and the public fully understand the extent of Meta’s plans” for stablecoins, given the size of the tech company and the expected vote on the GENIUS Act in the Senate.
The two lawmakers asked the CEO to provide information on any companies with which Meta may have consulted regarding stablecoins in 2025 and any influence it may have had on the stablecoin bill in the Senate.
Warren and Blumenthal brought up Facebook’s Libra and Diem stablecoin projects, which the company shut down amid widespread opposition from international regulators. In the letter, the senators expressed concern about US President Donald Trump issuing a waiver to Meta under the GENIUS Act, allowing the company to “sidestep” regulations imposed on other stablecoin issuers.
“If Meta controlled its own stablecoin, the company could further pry into consumers’ transactions and commercial activity,” wrote the senators. “The massive amounts of consumer data it would ingest could help Meta fuel surveillance pricing schemes on its platform, more intrusive targeted advertising, or otherwise help the company monetize sensitive private information through sales to third party data brokers.”
The letter followed reports suggesting that Meta was exploring the integration of stablecoin payments into its platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Messenger and WhatsApp. Whether the company may intend to use stablecoin from issuers like Tether or Circle — USDT and USDC, respectively — or pursue its own project was unclear at the time of publication. However, on May 8, Meta communications director Andy Stone said on X that there was “no Meta stablecoin.”
Related: Death of Meta’s stablecoin project was ‘100% a political kill’ — Ex Diem boss
GENIUS Act expected to pass the Senate
On Wednesday, 68 senators voted to invoke cloture for the GENIUS Act, effectively setting the bill up for debate, additional amendments, and a possible vote in the full chamber. Several Democrats sided with Republicans to advance the legislation, but Warren expressed concerns about Trump’s ties to his family-backed crypto platform, World Liberty Financial.
Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight
