The race to capture the most of the cryptocurrency markets is growing intense, people just don't know it yet.
There's a lot to unpack when it comes to Rumble but it's interesting to find some familiar names on surface level research into the company.
It turns out, some of the same figures are invested in companies greatly positioned to compete for significant market capture of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
For instance, the name Peter Thiel popped up during a quick research. This is the former CEO and co-founder of PayPal and Peter also happens to be invested in Stripe and Rumble, and all of these companies now run crypto products and he stands to benefit from all except PayPal.
This was interesting to me, looking over some of the company’s he's been involved with but it just simply led to discovering that names like Vanguard and Blackrock are invested in Rumble too, but that's to be expected right?
They are investment firms afterall and exist to serve investor's interest, but still, everywhere one turns its just these names popping up, leaving very little room for them to fall behind in any case that select companies lead others in capturing the most of the cryptocurrency markets.
That said, the most interesting discovery wasn't any of the above, but the fact the Tether invested in Rumble in late 2024 and this makes this recent Rumble news a whole lot reasonable.
Rumble’s pro-crypto founder and CEO has confirmed that the firm will launch its Bitcoin and stablecoin wallet in the third quarter of this year, aimed at giving the Coinbase Wallet a run for its money.
The Rumble Wallet will be launched in partnership with stablecoin issuer Tether and compete directly with Coinbase, Chris Pavlovski said in a May 9 X post.
“Our goal is to become the most prominent non-custodial Bitcoin and stablecoin wallet, powering the creator economy,” he added.
He continued to state that the Rumble Wallet will be the “vehicle to help monetize creators better than most advertisers, especially in international markets,” though he did not provide further details other than it may support Tether Gold (XAUT) as well. — Cointelegraph report
At first, I did not understand the reason behind the emphasis on rivaling Coinbase and the evident plans to heavily plug in Tether products.
It turns out, Tether, in late 2024, made a strategic investment into Rumble to the amount of $775 million.
December 20, 2024 – Tether, the largest company in the digital asset industry with more than 350 million users, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to make a strategic investment of $775 million in Rumble (NASDAQ: RUM), a leading video-sharing platform and cloud services provider.
The investment includes a primary commitment of $250 million in cash, with Tether also supporting Rumble’s tender offer for up to 70 million shares at $7.50 per share, reinforcing the platform’s future growth initiatives. The total anticipated investment from Tether will be approximately $775 million or 103,333,333 shares of common stock. Following the completion of the transaction, Chris Pavlovski, Rumble’s Chairman and CEO, will retain a controlling stake in the Company. — Tether Report
For those who don't know, Rumble is a video-sharing platform founded on October 30, 2013 by Chris Pavlovski. The platform is an alternative to YouTube for independent creators which has evolved into a prominent platform known for commitment to free speech.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, echoed the values of decentralization, independence, transparency and the fundamental right to free expression to be an underlying factor in Tether’s strategic investment into Rumble.
Rumble’s recent move to launch a non-custodial crypto wallet for bitcoin and stablecoins, with Tether’s products being the strategic choice for powering the creator economy and competiting against Coinbase shows a growing tension between companies to dominate the cryptocurrency markets.
Coinbase is a known powerhouse in crypto that's made significant investment in payments and wallets, alongside exchange solutions and assets management. Being that Tether is a business with a lot to lose if these competiting firms catch up, it makes sense for Tether to strategically broaden its influence by investing in platforms that will bring about more users for its stablecoin and associated products.
Rumble’s move to launch a crypto wallet is a collaborative strategy involving Tether to give Coinbase a run for its money as indicated in the report. Tether’s vested interest in Rumble is evident in its $775 million strategic investment and Rumble’s 59+ million active users being onboarded into using Tether’s products is how Rumble can tap into a new market that is beneficial to itself and it's strategic partner, Tether.