US Congresswoman Maxine Waters interested in Meta’s cryptocurrency-related plans

What’s new? House Financial Services Committee member Maxine Waters has sent a letter to Meta executives, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Javier Olivan, expressing concern about five trademark applications related to digital assets filed by the company over the past year. The applications concerned a social network that allows the exchange of digital currency, the development of blockchain-related computer hardware and software, a cryptocurrency trading service, and other projects.

Waters’ letter

What else is known? Waters criticized Meta’s entry into the crypto market, recalling its blockchain project Diem (formerly Libra), work on which began in 2019. As a result of regulatory pressure, the company decided to sell the project in February 2022.

According to Waters, even before Diem was shut down, she and other lawmakers in 2019 asked Meta to suspend the development of the project and its digital wallet Calibra because of risks to user privacy and national security.

“Meta staff stated that the company is not currently conducting, nor planning any work on blockchain-based products or stablecoins,” Waters noted. “Additionally, Meta staff asserted that Meta is not working with any partners on integrating stablecoins or cryptocurrency into any payments or Metaverse products, and is not pursuing research and development in the space.”

However, Waters said Meta’s trademark applications indicate that the company has not ceased operations since Diem closed.

Waters asked the firm about projects it plans to pursue and whether it plans “to launch a payments platform that supports cryptocurrency.” She did not, however, set a timeline for a response.

After Diem’s closure, a team of former project developers used old developments to create the Aptos network, which was launched in October 2022. It operates separately and is not connected to Meta.

In August 2023, Waters criticized the launch of payment company PayPal’s (PYUSD) stablecoin. According to her, there is no proper regulatory framework at the federal level to regulate this asset.