Gold is considered one of the world's most reliable commodities, as it tends to act as a hedge against inflation and dollar debasement. As the U.S. dollar sinks to new lows, gold has been hitting new highs.
A few weeks ago, the bullion's price surpassed $5,500 per ounce to hit the highest point on the charts.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase raised its long-term gold price forecast to $4,500 an ounce while keeping its 2026 year-end forecast at $6,300.
Now, it turns out a major gold holder has announced an investment in an internet marketplace popular among Gen Z.
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Tether invests in Whop.com
Tether Limited is a major crypto firm that is popular for its USD-pegged stablecoin, USDT. With a market cap of $183.55 billion, USDT is the world's largest stablecoin that accounts for around 60% of the total segment.
The firm also issues Tether Gold (XAUT), a digital token backed by physical gold.
One XAUT is backed by one fine troy ounce of physical gold. It meets the Good Delivery standard of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA).
The token is available as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain and as a TRC20 token on the TRON blockchain.
As per Tether , XAUT accounts for approximately 60% of the total gold-backed stablecoin supply as of Jan. 26.
Tether Investments, Tether's independent investment arm, announced on Feb. 25 that it has made a strategic investment in Whop.com.
Founded in 2021, Whop is an American online commerce platform that lets creators and small businesses sell digital products directly to consumers.
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It currently supports more than 18.4 million users in 144 countries, with participants earning approximately $3 billion annually.
The marketplace, extremely popular among Gen Z, raised $17 million in a Series A round with participation from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel among others in July 2023.
The later investment allows Whop's millions of creators and users to choose between Tether's USDT and USAT stablecoins for payment settlements.
These USD-pegged stablecoins, also called "digital dollars," can get settled 24/7 and don't sleep on the weekends like traditional payment rails.
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Whop will also utilize Tether’s open-source Wallet Development Kit (WDK) to offer creators and users faster and more efficient global payments while allowing them to retain direct control over their funds. The integration positions Whop as a self-custodial digital wallet with features like lending and borrowing through modern DeFi primitives.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said, “Our investment in Whop proudly reflects Tether’s focus on supporting real economic activity by providing efficient digital dollar and wallet infrastructure that can scale to billions of people, across every continent."
He added, "Whop is the future of the Internet Markets.”
As per the statement, the latest funding round will support Whop aggressively expanding across LATAM, Europe, and APAC regions; building financial infrastructure for its global user base, and introducing advanced AI tools to enable agentic income opportunities for next-gen internet entrepreneurs.
Whop co-founder and CEO Steven Schwartz said, “With Tether’s investment, we’re accelerating our vision to build the world’s largest internet market – where anyone in the world can create, connect, and get paid instantly.”
He added, “This partnership strengthens the financial backbone of our platform, aligning our infrastructure with a future where people can operate across the globe and build sustainable income – regardless of where they live or what currency they use.”
Tether currently has more than 530 million global users, with $180 billion worth of issued "digital dollars." The firm didn't reveal the figure regarding its investment in Whop.
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This story was originally published by TheStreet on Feb 25, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
