Why Michael Saylor told MrBeast to buy bitcoin?

On Oct. 5, 2025, one of the best-known bitcoin advocates, the founder of Strategy, Michael Saylor, told the YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, to buy bitcoin. It was a reply to the post in which MrBeast voiced his concerns over the future of the YouTube creators, as they might be losing their jobs because of AI-generated videos. Does the top-ranking YouTuber known for handing out thousands of dollars to strangers really have financial concerns, and how crypto-savvy is he?

MrBeast’s concerns

MrBeast, a YouTuber with over 443 million subscribers on his main channel, has an ambiguous track record of relations with artificial intelligence. On Oct. 5, 2025, he published an X post reflecting on the AI threat to YouTubers. Donaldson raised a question about what will happen to professional YouTube creators when AI videos get “just as good as normal videos.” He concluded his post, saying, “Scary times.”

The post got over 63,000 likes and 6,200 comments in less than 24 hours. The post drew diverse replies of support or counterarguments. One of the commenters noted that “MrBeast just realized the machine that made him can now replace him,” hinting that it was the YouTube algorithm that helped MrBeast to get to the top. Others reminded everyone that it was MrBeast himself who promoted an AI tool creating video thumbnails for YouTubers. 

Donaldson’s thumbnail generator, called ViewStats, was announced in June 2025. The project was received poorly. Designers criticized MrBeast for stealing their jobs. He reacted quickly and pulled the project, noting that now Viewstats will funnel users to hire real designers. Soon after, Donaldson expressed solidarity with those who associate AI with stealing jobs.

Earlier, MrBeast raised his concerns about possible disasters caused by AI. In 2023, a deepfake ad video presented an AI-generated MrBeast clone offering his viewers the chance to buy an iPhone 15 Pro for just $2 in a “world’s largest giveaway.” Real MrBeast warned his viewers about scammers and asked, “Are social media platforms ready to handle the rise of AI deepfakes? This is a serious problem.”

Crypto journey of the number one YouTuber

While MrBeast never mentioned digital assets in his videos, he is no stranger to cryptocurrencies. During the 2021 bull run, he made several posts about Bitcoin. 

For instance, on Feb. 20, 2021, he tweeted he would donate $10,000 in bitcoin to a random person who retweeted the post. Also, he urged people to follow him on Twitter. 

Earlier, he posted a poll asking if people hold bitcoin or any other crypto. On another occasion, he told fellow YouTuber Ludwig Ahgren that he’d taken a $10,000 donation in bitcoin. In November, he informed his followers about an environmental initiative taking donations in BTC. In September, he collaborated with Coinbase, offering a giveaway for a random person who would follow MrBeast and Coinbase on Twitter.

Generally, all the X posts about Bitcoin were released between January and November 2021. Since then, MrBeast hasn’t posted about it on X and hasn’t mentioned it on YouTube. 

The same year, MrBeast was busy promoting NFTs and tokens via X replies. In 2024, analysts from Loock claimed they identified 50 crypto wallets linked to MrBeast. Allegedly, Donaldson used them for insider trading, pump and dump schemes, and misleading investors. For instance, they bring up his support for the SuperVerse token in May 2021.

On top of Super, Loock pointed at MrBeast’s efforts in promoting EthernityChain’s NFT collection, AIOZ token, and Refinable NFT marketplace in exchange for tipping. According to the Loock investigation, MrBeast was involved in insider trading with ShopX, XCAD, Boson Protocol, and other projects. 

​Allegedly, Donaldson made over $23,000,000 from insider trading and selling tokens he and his affiliate, YouTuber KSI, were promoting. Mostly, this activity dates back to 2021. On several occasions, MrBeast was involved in such activity in later years. Gizmodo media characterized Loock’s investigation as “compelling and impenetrable.” Blogger Stephen Findeisen, known as Coffeezilla, released a video echoing Loock’s allegations. MrBeast denied wrongdoing.

In September 2025, analysts from Lookonchain detected a $1 million worth of ASTER tokens inflow in the wallet linked to MrBeast. The YouTube star denied that this wallet belongs to him and claimed he doesn’t know about the ASTER token. Additionally, Donaldson noted that he is not going to make memecoins and warned people from trusting anyone who claims the opposite, pretending to be him.

MrBeast’s financial struggles

In his YouTube videos, MrBeast gives huge amounts of money and expensive gifts to strangers. The videos are normally costly as they involve such features as fancy cars being destroyed, fantastic locations being built from scratch, etc. The average cost of one of MrBeast’s videos reaches three to four million dollars. Lately, Donaldson has been repeating that he has “very little money” as he spends most of it on his videos. Donaldson’s mother had to give him money for the wedding.

Donaldson has ideas that may possibly bring more money to him. He plans to launch an animation studio, a video game platform, and write a thriller with the famed author James Patterson. Currently, MrBeast is selling branded chocolate bars called Feastables, snack kits, and software tools for vloggers. Donaldson’s company, MrBeast Industries, has 450 employees. 

While Feastables bring money, costly video production devours all the profits. The company was losing money from 2022 to 2024. The 2024 losses amounted to $110 million. Many of the losses can be attributed to Beast’s striving to team up with people who think differently, as Donaldson told Bloomberg. In 2024, he finally hired a CEO who must cut the costs of MrBeast Industries.

Michael Saylor advocates for a bitcoin accumulation strategy as the way for the U.S. to fix the national debt curse. Advising MrBeast to buy a bitcoin is just natural for Saylor, as Donaldson’s losses are way humbler than those of the U.S. However, Donaldson may have his own views on how to fill the budget hole using crypto.