Tether Invests in Whop to Bring Stablecoin Payments to 18 Million Users

Tether has made a strategic investment in Whop, the creator marketplace platform, as part of its push to embed stablecoin infrastructure into mainstream commerce.

Under the deal announced Wednesday, Whop will integrate Tether's Wallet Development Kit (WDK) to enable self-custodial stablecoin payments for its 18.4 million users. The platform will support both USDT and Tether's newer yield-bearing stablecoin, USDA.

The partnership connects Whop's creator economy with Tether's broader ecosystem, which spans over 530 million users globally and more than $180 billion in issued stablecoins – positioning the collaboration to onboard new users at scale.

Whop operates as an internet marketplace where creators sell digital products, courses, and community access. The platform processes roughly $3 billion in annual creator earnings, with gross transaction volume growing approximately 25% month-over-month.

"Stablecoins and wallets become most powerful when they are embedded directly into people's lives," said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino. "By integrating WDK, Whop can offer users faster global payments and more reliable financial tools."

The integration will transform Whop into a self-custodial wallet for its community, with plans to introduce DeFi primitives including lending and borrowing features.

For Tether, the investment represents its latest move beyond pure stablecoin issuance into infrastructure plays. The company has been aggressively deploying capital into ventures that can drive real-world USDT adoption, from Bitcoin mining to AI initiatives.

The funding will support Whop's international expansion across Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, along with new AI tools aimed at what the company calls "agentic income opportunities" – a nod to the growing intersection of AI agents and crypto payments.

"The next generation of business on the internet is global from day one, and payments need to move as freely as the internet itself," said Whop CEO Steven Schwartz.

Neither company disclosed the investment amount.