Tether Investments has taken a strategic stake in Whop, a marketplace facilitating roughly $3 billion in annual payouts to 18.4 million users across 144 countries. The deal extends stablecoin settlement into a high-volume creator economy platform with global reach.
Under the agreement, Whop will integrate Tether’s Wallet Development Kit (WDK) to process payments in USDT and USAT, a U.S.-focused digital dollar. The companies said the integration will allow creators to settle transactions in stablecoins, while supporting Whop’s expansion into Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Whop reported gross transaction volume growing about 25% month over month.
Can Stablecoins Replace Creator Payment Rails?
Tether said WDK integration could also enable decentralized finance features such as lending and borrowing, effectively embedding self-custodial financial services within Whop’s ecosystem. For creators in markets where traditional payout rails are slow or costly, dollar-pegged tokens may offer faster settlement and fewer intermediaries. Would stablecoin-native payouts materially reduce cross-border friction for digital entrepreneurs?
The investment comes as the stablecoin market has reached $293 billion in total dollar-denominated supply, according to data dashboard. Tether’s USDT accounts for $183 billion of that total, representing a 62.4% market share. Financial attestations from BDO show Tether generated more than $10 billion in net profit for fiscal 2025, with excess reserves rising to $6.3 billion and total assets backing USDT at $193 billion.
“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,” said CEO Paolo Ardoino in a statement.
Tether reported U.S. Treasury holdings of $122 billion in 2025 and added more than $50 billion in new USDT issuance during the year.
Still, the Whop deal is part of a broader expansion strategy. Tether recently invested in LayerZero Labs, Dreamcash, and Gold.com, while planning to add 150 employees over 18 months, according to the Financial Times. The next catalyst will be whether Whop’s stablecoin rollout drives measurable shifts in payout volumes away from traditional banking channels.
