The Most "Money-Throwing" KOL, MrBeast, Sets His Sights on Teenagers' Digital Wallets

Original author: ChandlerZ, Foresight News

On February 9, Beast Industries, owned by renowned YouTube creator MrBeast, announced its acquisition of Step, a mobile banking app for teenagers, marking its entry into the fintech sector. This is the company's first concrete move following its announcement of receiving a $200 million equity investment from the Ethereum treasury company, BitMine.

Step is an all-in-one financial management app, a digital banking platform designed to help young people begin their financial journey. The company has long offered a suite of services to teenagers and young adults, including savings accounts, a credit-building Visa card that functions like a debit card, and cash advances. Step itself is not a bank; it provides banking services through a partnership with Evolve Bank & Trust, a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Neither company disclosed the terms of the transaction. In 2022, Step stated it had raised $500 million in equity and debt financing from institutional investors including General Catalyst, companies like Stripe, and individual investors such as TikTok influencer Charli D'Amelio.

Expanding Beyond YouTube

MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has evolved from a single creator into the core of a commercial organization spanning content, consumer goods, and offline experiences. Public information shows he has over 466 million YouTube subscribers. His main channel and multilingual matrix have an immense cumulative reach, placing his communication efficiency and user mobilization capabilities among the top tier on global internet platforms.

The influencer began planning his foray into fintech several months ago. In October 2025, Beast Holdings, LLC filed a trademark application for "MrBeast Financial" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The company plans to offer cryptocurrency trading services, crypto payment processing, crypto trading via DEXs, and more.

While a trademark application itself only represents a preset business boundary and does not directly equate to a product launch—there remains a time gap between regulatory approval and business implementation—it nonetheless marks the first time MrBeast's intentions in finance and crypto have been formally documented.

Rewinding a month to January 2026, the Ethereum treasury company BitMine announced a $200 million equity investment in Beast Industries, with the transaction expected to close around January 19, 2026. Beast Industries CEO Jeff Housenbold stated that future collaborations would be explored, including introducing DeFi into their financial services platform. Both parties plan to explore integrating DeFi into the upcoming financial services platform. Beast Industries is an entertainment and consumer goods company founded by the famous YouTube creator MrBeast.

MrBeast has frequently discussed his personal financial situation, viewing the acquisition of Step as an opportunity to "provide millions of young people with the financial foundation I never had." As the company prepares to enter the financial industry, MrBeast expressed his desire to create videos about finance, such as "educating people on how to invest and showing them what a Roth IRA is."

Previously Accused of Profiting Over $10 Million from Crypto Pump-and-Dump Schemes

However, this is not MrBeast's first venture into the crypto space. On October 11, 2024, on-chain detective SomaXBT publicly released a series of on-chain investigations. The investigation alleged that MrBeast participated in Initial DEX Offerings (IDOs) and token promotion campaigns for multiple projects, profiting handsomely after endorsements led to sharp price increases for the tokens.

The projects involved include SuperFarm (SUPER), Polychain Monsters (PMON), SPLYT (SHOPX), among others. Some tokens saw their prices drop by over 90% after MrBeast sold his holdings.

SomaXBT revealed multiple cases. Taking the SUPER token as an example, it was a project backed by Elliot Trades.

According to SomaXBT, MrBeast invested $100,000 in the project and received 1 million SUPER tokens in return. After his investment, the token price surged. MrBeast transferred his SUPER tokens to a secondary wallet on March 30, 2021, where they were sold through a series of transactions totaling 1,900 ETH (approximately $3.7 million at the time). MrBeast received additional SUPER tokens under a vesting contract, which he later sold for $5.5 million, bringing his total revenue from the project to approximately $9 million.

SomaXBT's investigation also highlighted MrBeast's connection with Polychain Monsters (PMON), another low-market-cap token project. In this case, MrBeast invested $25,000 and received 25,000 PMON tokens. On March 31, 2021, his wallet transferred these tokens to another wallet, where they were sold through a series of transactions, netting a profit of 685 ETH (approximately $1.3 million).

The investigation also included projects like SHOPX, STAK, and VPP in the same pattern discussion, noting that after MrBeast was alleged to have completed his sales, these token prices experienced significant pullbacks, with some falling over 90% from their peaks. The investigation labeled this as "pump-and-dump," emphasizing that the combination of influencer promotion and low-liquidity tokens amplifies volatility and transfers risk to retail investors.

Additionally, MrBeast accumulated 705,821 ASTER tokens in September 2025, valued at approximately $1.28 million at the time.

In summary, Beast Industries has made a key strategic move into finance, while its crypto-related capabilities remain in the planning and exploration stages. Historical on-chain controversies may continue to affect the external trust threshold for its financial and crypto businesses.