With US Senate Soon to Vote on Stablecoin Legislation, Two Senators Call on Mark Zuckerberg to Answer Questions

Ahead of the US Senate's vote on legislation to regulate payment stablecoins, two senators called on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to answer questions about the company's potential plans

Two US senators have requested that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg answer questions about the company’s potential plans to introduce another stablecoin, ahead of an expected vote on legislation to regulate payment stablecoins in the Senate.

In a Wednesday letter to Zuckerberg, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal stated that 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 pending 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 what influence it may have had on the stablecoin bill in the Senate.

Most crucially, Warren and Blumenthal brought up Facebook’s Libra and Diem projects, which the company shut down amid widespread opposition from international regulators. In the letter, the senators expressed concern over US President Donald Trump issuing a waiver to Meta under the GENIUS Act, enabling 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 follows reports that Meta is integrating stablecoin payments into its platforms — including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Messenger and WhatsApp — possibly in partnership with issuers like Tether or Circle. However, the senators said they were unable to determine whether Meta planned to use an existing stablecoin or pursue its own project.

"We are writing to request information about Meta’s involvement in efforts to integrate and promote the use of payment stablecoins—digital currencies tied 1-to-1 to the value of the U.S. dollar—in the company’s products and services," the senators wrote. "We are particularly interested in learning more about Meta’s lobbying activity on legislation to regulate payment stablecoins, especially the bill that the Senate is expected to vote on soon."

The senators also noted that they had requested information from the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department about the administration’s decision to allow Meta to be exempt from the GENIUS Act.

"We are concerned that the administration may be considering an action that would grant Meta a special status not available to other companies and could undermine Congress’s intent in enacting legislation to regulate payment stablecoins," the senators concluded.