Tether Invests in Digital Marketplace Whop

- Whop was founded in 2021 by Steven Schwartz, Cameron Zoub, and Jack Sharkey, who met as teenagers in a Facebook sneaker-reselling group. Their early ventures included developing and selling bots that could automatically purchase and resell limited-edition sneakers. - The marketplace currently serves over 18.4 million users and processes around $3 billion in annual transaction volume, with a reported gross transaction volume growth rate of approximately 25% month-over-month. - Prior to Tether's investment, Whop raised $17 million in a Series A round in July 2023 at a valuation of over $100 million, and more than $50 million in a Series B round in June 2024, which valued the company at an estimated $800 million. - The investment is part of Tether's broader strategy to fund technologies that support the adoption of its stablecoins in real-world economic activities. Tether's venture portfolio includes over 120 companies in sectors like Bitcoin mining, artificial intelligence, and payment infrastructure. - The collaboration involves integrating Tether's Wallet Development Kit (WDK), which will specifically enable payments using the USD₮ and the newer USA₮ stablecoins. - Beyond payments, the integration of Tether's WDK is intended to position Whop to offer decentralized finance (DeFi) services in the future, such as lending and borrowing features for its user base. - Whop's business model for its creators includes a tiered fee structure, taking a 3% fee for direct customer purchases and a higher 30% fee for sales generated through its "Discover" marketplace feature. - The funding is earmarked to support Whop's international expansion into Latin America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the development of new AI tools for its sellers.