US Senator Warren Calls for Blocking Major Tech Stablecoins, Meta Mull Tokens Reports

Senator Warren Calls for Ban on Big Tech Stablecoins, Meta Mull Tokens Claims

While the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee favors restrictions on stablecoins, she and her colleagues also express doubts about Binance's talks with the Treasury Department.

Jesse Hamilton | Edited by Nikhilesh De Updated May 9, 2025, 9:16 pm Published May 9, 2025, 8:26 pm

Senator Elizabeth Warren (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

Key points:

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is pushing for the Senate stablecoin bill to ban large corporations from issuing stablecoins, specifically targeting Meta and Mark Zuckerberg.
Warren and several other Senate Democrats also questioned senior administration officials about their interactions with Binance, especially in light of the exchange's deepening ties to President Donald Trump's World Liberty Financial.

Tech giant Meta (META) is reportedly considering a return to the stablecoin market after a backlash from U.S. regulators over its previous attempts, with U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren telling CoinDesk that upcoming stablecoin regulation legislation should specify that such a return is not possible.

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The high-stakes cryptocurrency bill, which would set rules for stablecoins like Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, was effectively moving through the Senate until Democrats — including some who supported the initiatives in committee — spoke out against it in recent days, stalling its progress in the Senate this week. Warren has said the GENIUS Act needs to be amended to prevent large corporations from issuing their own money.

“The Senate should amend the GENIUS Act to prohibit Big Tech and other commercial giants from owning or having ties to stablecoin companies,” the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement to CoinDesk. “No senator should vote to make it easier for Big Tech to interfere with our financial transactions or to exclude small businesses and political opponents from the payment system.”

Meta tried to launch its own stablecoin platform, Libra (later renamed Diem), six years ago and nearly succeeded, but an outcry from some regulators and lawmakers derailed the project. She claimed that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who gave $1 million to President Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, was trying to get back into business, and called on Zuckerberg to “explain to Congress whether this is another attempt to control the American people’s money.”

When asked to comment on Warren's stance, Meta pointed CoinDesk to a post by communications director Andy Stone on social media site X: “Diem is dead. Meta stablecoin does not exist.”

The GENIUS Act is back on the floor, with some lawmakers hoping it could return to the Senate floor as early as next week. There is also a House version of the bill making its way through that chamber of Congress.