Tether backs Whop with strategic investment to scale stablecoin payments in the global internet e...

The latest partnership between Tether Investments and Whop aims to push stablecoin payments deeper into the fast-growing creator and internet marketplace economy worldwide.

Tether invests in Whop to power the next phase of internet markets

On 25 February 2026, Tether Investments announced a strategic stake in Whop.com, described as the world’s largest internet market platform where users can create, connect, and transact in one place. The deal underscores Tether’s push to extend stablecoin infrastructure into real economic activity and to empower users at scale.

By integrating with Whop‘s global network, Tether aims to enable faster and more efficient dollar settlement for millions of creators and users. Moreover, participants on the platform will be able to choose between USD₮ and USA₮, especially in markets where legacy payment systems still introduce high friction and costs for routine transactions.

Wallet Development Kit integration and self-custodial features

Alongside the investment, Whop will integrate Tether‘s Wallet Development Kit, or WDK, to deliver global payments that are both faster and more efficient. Users and creators will retain direct control over their funds, removing many of the pain points tied to traditional banking and card-based infrastructure.

The WDK framework enables seamless on-chain settlement and supports Whop’s vision for a more flexible, internet-native economy where value moves as easily as digital content. Furthermore, the integration effectively turns Whop into a new self custodial wallets hub for its community, enabling features such as lending and borrowing through modern DeFi primitives.

In this context, the companies emphasize that stablecoin payments are most impactful when embedded into everyday digital experiences rather than isolated within speculative trading venues.

Paolo Ardoino: Stablecoins must live inside real-world activity

“Stablecoins and wallets become most powerful when they are embedded directly into people’s lives, supporting their businesses, activities, families, and individual stories,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. His comments highlight the strategy to connect digital dollars with day-to-day economic activity rather than purely financial markets.

Ardoino added that the investment in Whop showcases Tether’s focus on supporting real-world usage by providing efficient digital dollar and wallet infrastructure at scale. Moreover, the goal is to build systems that can serve billions of people across every continent, while encouraging financial growth, self-sufficiency, and inclusion in both developed and emerging markets.

He stressed that by integrating Tether’s Wallet Development Kit, Whop can offer users faster global payments and more reliable financial tools. That said, the partnership is framed not just as a technical integration but as a way to strengthen individual, family, and community-level resilience within the digital economy.

Whop’s rapid growth and payments scale

The Whop platform currently supports more than 18.4 million users. Participants on the marketplace earn approximately $3 billion annually, reflecting a substantial and already global economic footprint. According to the companies, this activity spans creators, entrepreneurs, and digital businesses using Whop as their main infrastructure.

Growth is accelerating, with gross transaction volume rising about 25% month over month. Furthermore, this strong expansion signals rising worldwide demand for efficient payment infrastructure that can keep pace with internet-native businesses. With Tether’s investment and stablecoin technology, Whop is now positioned to scale this momentum by enabling seamless digital dollar settlement for a rapidly growing international base of users.

This phase of expansion is expected to leverage both on-chain rails and Whop’s existing tools for payouts and business management, while still keeping user control at the center of the experience.

Global expansion across LATAM, Europe, and APAC

This latest funding round will support aggressive international expansion across LATAM, Europe, and APAC. Whop plans to use the capital to build new financial infrastructure tailored to its already global user base, while also introducing advanced AI tools for the next generation of entrepreneurs.

These new AI solutions are designed to unlock “agentic” income opportunities, allowing people to deploy software-based agents to generate revenue on the platform. Moreover, by combining AI with stable digital dollars, Whop aims to position itself as a hub where digital-first businesses can start, scale, and operate across borders from day one.

On the payment side, the team expects that tighter integration with Tether’s technology stack will further reduce settlement times and fees, particularly in high-growth regions where access to traditional financial rails remains limited.

Whop’s vision for a borderless internet economy

“With Tether’s investment, we are accelerating our vision to build the world’s largest internet market where anyone in the world can create, connect, and get paid instantly,” said Steven Schwartz, CEO and Co-Founder of Whop. He underlined that the next generation of business on the internet is global from the start.

Schwartz argued that payments must move as freely as the internet itself for this new wave of entrepreneurship to truly flourish. Furthermore, he described the Tether partnership as a way to reinforce the financial backbone of the Whop platform, aligning its infrastructure with a future where people can earn sustainable income regardless of location or local currency.

The collaboration is expected to help Whop expand its reach in markets that have historically been underserved by conventional payout systems, thereby creating new opportunities for creators and small businesses worldwide.

Mass adoption through Tether’s global ecosystem

Together, Tether and Whop intend to widen access to stablecoin-powered payments by linking Whop’s marketplace to Tether’s broader ecosystem. Today, that ecosystem reportedly reaches more than 530 million users around the world, backed by over 180 billion dollars of issued digital dollars providing deep liquidity.

By using Tether’s technology and global distribution, the partnership aims to onboard new users at scale while delivering faster, more efficient payment experiences. Moreover, this approach is meant to support a growing international network of creators, merchants, and entrepreneurs who prefer dollar-denominated settlement over volatile local currencies.

In practice, the integration of Whop’s marketplace with Tether’s infrastructure could serve as a blueprint for other platforms seeking to embed digital dollar systems into their own economic models, without sacrificing user control or transparency.

Tether Investments: deploying capital into real-world utility

Tether Investments operates as the independent investment arm of Tether, described as the largest company in the digital assets industry. Based in El Salvador, the firm deploys capital from Tether’s profits and excess reserves across sectors where technology, infrastructure, and real-world utility intersect.

Its portfolio spans artificial intelligence, financial services, energy, biotechnology, education, and digital media. In addition, it holds strategic stakes in commodities, remittances, and sports and entertainment. The focus is on ventures with long-term potential to improve access, efficiency, and resilience in both emerging and developed markets.

The firm’s work aligns with Tether Group’s broader mission to strengthen decentralized systems, promote infrastructure resilience, and expand real-world access to open, transparent technologies that function at global scale.

Inside WDK by Tether

WDK by Tether is an open-source Wallet Development Kit designed to simplify and accelerate the creation of hyper-secure, self-custodial wallets. It supports Bitcoin, Lightning, USD₮, XAU₮, and USA₮, and offers modular, ecosystem-agnostic infrastructure that can be extended to nearly any blockchain or digital asset.

With built-in USDt0 technology, DeFi primitives, and cross-chain interoperability, WDK enables developers, institutions, and even sovereign nations to build independent, white-label wallets without depending on centralized providers. Moreover, it lays the groundwork for a future where humans, connected devices, and AI agents can securely hold and exchange value across open networks.

WDK by Tether is available free of charge, with no fees or restrictions, which is intended to encourage widespread experimentation and adoption by builders working on new digital financial tools.

Whop: building sustainable income for a global user base

Whop positions itself as a financial technology company focused on providing the world with sustainable income opportunities. Its stated vision is to create the world’s largest internet market, where people can create, connect, and transact from a single integrated platform.

The company enables individuals and businesses to accept payments, launch new ventures, and engage with each other across the network. Today, Whop facilitates more than $3 billion in annual payouts to users in 144 countries. Furthermore, the partnership with Tether is expected to deepen these capabilities by embedding digital dollar options directly into the platform’s core payment infrastructure.

For more information about Whop and its services, interested users can visit the official website at whop.com.

Overall, the collaboration between Tether Investments and Whop reflects a shared ambition to bring scalable digital dollar infrastructure, on-chain settlement, and user-controlled wallets into the heart of the internet economy, supporting creators and entrepreneurs worldwide.