Tom Lee says he shares the same values as MrBeast?

Steph Curry, Deep潮 TechFlow

Unbelievable, the world’s largest Ethereum institutional holder Bitmine has invested $200 million in Beast Industries, the company behind the YouTube star MrBeast (.

The former holds over 4 million ETH, with a market cap of over $13 billion; the latter has 450 million followers across platforms, making it the most subscribed individual channel in YouTube history.

Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine, said in a press release about this:

“Our corporate values are highly aligned with MrBeast’s personal values.”

How are he and a content creator known for viral videos aligned in values?

I looked into it and found that MrBeast registered a trademark called “MrBeast Financial” last October.

The application details are very thorough: cryptocurrency exchanges, decentralized exchanges, payment processing, microloans, payday advances, credit card issuance, investment consulting.

Basically, anything you can think of in financial services, he wants to do.

This makes sense now—a coin-hoarding company investing in a YouTuber planning to launch an exchange.

But I think there’s more to this story.

Last October, the same week MrBeast registered that trademark, on-chain detective SomaXBT tweeted a series of accusations, claiming MrBeast participated in multiple crypto projects in 2021, receiving low-priced tokens from project teams, then selling them after the prices surged, and walking away with profits.

For example, SomaXBT said MrBeast invested $100,000 in a project called SuperFarm, received 1 million tokens, sold all a month later, cashing out $3.7 million. There were also tokens gradually unlocked later, totaling around $9 million in gains.

Another project called Polychain Monsters, he invested $25,000 and sold for $1.7 million.

How much have these projects fallen now? Over 90%.

Arkham Intelligence tagged MrBeast’s on-chain wallet, all transaction records are available. After SomaXBT’s accusations were made public, MrBeast didn’t respond, clarify, or sue.

And a year later, he applied to open an exchange…

You might ask, how can someone accused of “harvesting” still open a bank?

The answer is, he has 450 million followers.

According to data from Precise TV, 39% of MrBeast’s audience is aged 13 to 17. With 450 million followers, that’s about 170 million people.

People in this age group are at the typical age of opening their first bank account. Studies abroad show that 49% of teenagers open their first bank account during this stage.

MrBeast Financial plans to offer a service called “short-term cash advances.” In plain language, payday loans. The annual interest rate usually ranges from 200% to 400%.

He previously partnered with another fintech company, MoneyLion, for promotions where users could participate in lotteries upon registration. This activity was criticized by consumer protection organizations, claiming MoneyLion’s cash advance service is essentially high-interest short-term lending.

Now he’s doing it himself, without partners.

Looking beyond MrBeast’s high-quality videos, the company behind him, Beast Industries, has an evolving business model.

The first phase is content creation. MrBeast’s videos are extremely costly—it’s common to spend millions of dollars per video. YouTube ad revenue can’t cover costs, but it attracts attention.

The second phase is consumer products. He launched a chocolate brand called Feastables, which sold $250 million in 2024, with a net profit of $20 million—more than his YouTube income.

He also created a virtual restaurant called MrBeast Burger, available on delivery platforms, outsourcing food preparation to existing restaurants.

The third phase is now entering finance.

Look at this chain: fans first watch and contribute views; then become consumers, buying his chocolates; finally, they become borrowers, taking loans to buy things from him.

Each step increases monetization efficiency.

So, why did Tom Lee invest this $200 million?

I checked Bitmine’s recent moves. Yesterday, they held a shareholder meeting, and a proposal was to increase authorized shares from 500 million to 50 billion.

A hundredfold.

Issuing more shares to raise funds, then using that to buy Ethereum, investing in influencers, telling stories, and driving up the stock price, then issuing more shares.

This approach has a name—called the “infinite funding glitch.”

MicroStrategy has played with Bitcoin before, and now many companies are copying it. Bitmine is the Ethereum version.

What’s the difference? MicroStrategy buys Bitcoin and that’s it; Bitmine buys Bitcoin and also invests—possibly in an influencer planning to lend to 400 million people.

Tom Lee said, “I believe this is part of the evolution of digital platforms and currency.”

Let me translate that for you:

Generation Z’s attention, combined with crypto financial tools, and a regulatory vacuum. That’s “aligned values.”

Speaking of regulation—

If MrBeast Financial truly launches, I checked what licenses are needed, including but not limited to FinCEN’s money services business registration, state lending licenses, SEC or CFTC approval.

The trademark is not expected to be approved until late 2026. The actual launch could be as early as 2027.

By then, the regulatory environment is unpredictable. But Beast Industries’ CEO said in the press release that the investment will be used to “explore integrating DeFi into future financial service products.”

DeFi means decentralized finance, characterized by no middlemen, no KYC, no regulation.

Integrating DeFi into a financial platform aimed at teenagers.

This idea, how to say… quite creative.

It reminds me—content creators, from Li Jiaqi to Xinba, all face the same problem: no matter how much they sell, profits still stay with the supply chain.

So they start their own brands, build their own factories.

MrBeast might have realized that the most efficient monetization isn’t selling goods.

It’s lending.

You earn once from selling products, but earn repeatedly from loans. Compound interest—Jews understood this thousands of years ago.

Now, it’s the influencers’ turn to understand.