Does MrBeast want to sell crypto to teens? Elizabeth Warren aims to find out.

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren has her sights set on a famous YouTuber who just bought a financial services platform for … teens?

“I have questions for MrBeast,” the Massachusetts senator wrote atop an image of herself posted to her Instagram Thursday.

Indeed, she has plenty of questions. In a 12-page letter addressed to Beast Industries, the company founded by Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, Warren raised concerns about the company’s acquisition of Step, a banking app directed at teenagers.

“Beast Industries is primarily an entertainment and consumer product company—and any foray into financial services, particularly services aimed at children—must be done with great care and in compliance with the law,” Warren said in her letter. 

On YouTube, MrBeast has 474 million subscribers, including a significant number of underage viewers. So when his company bought Step, which already had a tattered reputation, Warren paid attention. 

Not a bank itself, Step has partnered with Evolve Bank & Trust. However, Evolve was previously working with Synapse Financial Technologies, which went bankrupt in 2024, leaving millions of dollars in customer funds in limbo. Shortly after that, Evolve installed Bob Hartheimer as chief executive, but earlier this year, Hartheimer pleaded guilty to child pornography charges.

Even without Evolve’s checkered history, Step’s promotion of cryptocurrency investments to teens raised some questions from the senator. 

“Despite Step’s careful claims that crypto investing by minors was only with the permission of a parent or guardian, Step published resources encouraging kids to pressure their parents into crypto investments,” Warren wrote, adding that the company had “produced a video titled ‘How to Talk to Your Parents About Investing in Crypto,’ which was targeted at kids whose parents ‘want nothing to do with crypto.’” 

The letter includes a handful of screenshots from Step’s glory days, which include marketing to teens looking for “summer job[s]” or a “side hustle.”

“The video coaches children on how to convince their parents to let them make investments their parents may not want and includes specific scripts for children to use while talking to their parents,” Warren writes.

Daily Kos reached out to Warren and MrBeast’s teams for comment but did not hear back by publication time.

“Our primary motivation behind this deal is to improve the financial future of the next generation,” a Beast Industries spokesman told The New York Times. 

The company added that it was “examining all existing offerings and marketing approaches to ensure that Step’s future is developed thoughtfully and deliberately, meets our very high quality standards, and is in compliance with applicable laws and regulatory requirements,” adding that it “appreciate[d] Senator Warren’s outreach and look[ed] forward to engaging with her as we build the next phase of the Step financial platform.”

Warren’s letter set a deadline for response of Friday, April 3.