Stablecoin issuer Tether has made a $200 million strategic investment in Whop, an online marketplace, as it looks to expand stablecoin payments into more real-world use cases. Whop co-founder Steven Schwartz said in a post on X that Tether’s investment pushed the company’s valuation to $1.6 billion. “The job is just getting started.” The deal is part of Tether’s broader push to expand beyond crypto trading and into everyday finance.
Specifically, Tether will gain exposure to a platform with over 18 million users and about $3 billion in yearly payouts. Moreover, Whop’s transaction volume has been growing around 25% month over month, according to an official announcement. “Stablecoins and wallets become most powerful when they are embedded directly into people’s lives, supporting their businesses, activities, families, and individual stories,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said, per the announcement. “Our investment in Whop proudly reflects Tether’s focus on supporting real economic activity by providing efficient digital dollar and wallet infrastructure that can scale to billions of people, across every continent.”
The new funding will help Whop expand into Latin America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, while also developing new financial tools and AI features for its users. The investment also builds on Tether’s recent expansion efforts, including the launch of its regulated U.S. stablecoin USAT last month. Tether’s USDT stablecoin currently has a market cap of about $183 billion, according to DeFiLlama data, making it the largest circulating stablecoin worldwide.
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