Cryptocurrency giant Tether is investing $775 million in Trump-friendly video service Rumble

Tether has amassed significant wealth in recent years thanks to its stablecoin of the same name, which the company says will bring in more than $10 billion in profits in 2024. With cash flowing in, Tether’s owners have indicated they intend to make investments outside of cryptocurrencies, and on Friday after… Noon, followed by advertisement The company has taken a significant stake in Rumble, a video platform popular with right-wing influencers.

We’ll see the deal pregnancy Investing $775 million in total, using $250 million to fund growth initiatives to scale the platform. The rest will be used to fund a tender offer for up to 70 million of the company’s publicly traded Class A shares at $7.50 — a modest premium over the roughly $7 at which the shares have traded.

In an interview with luckTether CEO Paolo Ardoino described Rumble’s investment as part of a larger commitment to his belief in “freedom technology,” including cryptocurrencies and communications platforms, that allow people to express themselves without censorship by governments or big corporations.

Founded in 2013, Rumble is still much smaller than… YouTubereporting around 67 million monthly active users. But it became a major source of information for young conservatives, and after Donald Trump’s election video, it spread the triumphant message “We are the media now.”

Arduino praised Rumble’s decision to run its own cloud service, which means it won’t have to rely on cloud giants like… Google and Amazon To stay online. It’s unclear whether Tether will try to tie Rumble more directly to its other properties, but Ardoino said it believes stablecoins will become an integral part of social media in the future.

The major investment by Tether owners in Rumble comes at a time when another tech billionaire, Elon Musk, is turning the media landscape upside down with his control of… X. Before the election, Musk used the platform to actively campaign for Trump, and this week he used it to pressure Republicans in Congress to advance a major spending bill — in part by tweeting false information.

In this context, Tether’s investment in Rumble could provide strategic value. For years, Tether has operated overseas and faced controversy over its popularity with criminals, but it has recently sought to work more closely with law enforcement and legitimize itself in Washington, D.C. Having a media platform that is popular with Trump loyalists can help in these efforts.

Ardoino, who describes himself as a libertarian, says Tether has no intention of interfering with Rumble’s editorial independence and that he hopes the platform will be decentralized and apolitical, unlike X, which he described as too centralized.

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