Rumble partners with Tether to launch a crypto wallet: creator economy ushers in a revolution of direct tipping with Bitcoin and USDT

Imagine a scenario: on the Rumble platform, a content creator in Argentina has just finished an amazing live stream. Their viewers are from the United States, Nigeria, and the Philippines. Within seconds, Bitcoin and USDT tips are directly deposited into the creator’s fully controlled crypto wallet, without going through banks, without paying high cross-border fees, and without worrying about account freezes. This is exactly the vision that Rumble and Tether’s latest launch, the Rumble Wallet, aims to realize.

Foundation of Partnership

The collaboration between Rumble and Tether has long gone beyond simple business partnership. United by a shared commitment to the “Freedom First” philosophy, the alliance is built on deep strategic and capital ties.

Tether is not only the world’s largest stablecoin issuer but also an important shareholder in Rumble. By the end of 2024, Tether made a strategic investment of $775 million in the Rumble platform, acquiring nearly 48% of the company. This investment is just the beginning of the cooperation. In November 2025, both parties further agreed on a $100 million advertising partnership. This two-year deal is expected to commence in Q1 2026, with an annual value of $50 million, aiming to push the crypto-based monetization model on Rumble into a new phase. Besides financial support, Tether also announced plans to purchase $150 million worth of GPUs from Rumble, jointly creating tools to empower content creators worldwide and building decentralized AI infrastructure.

These initiatives align with Rumble’s increasing acceptance of cryptocurrencies. Since 2024, Rumble has held Bitcoin on its balance sheet, currently owning 211 BTC, worth a substantial amount at current market prices.

Product Innovation

The core innovation of Rumble Wallet lies in its seamless integration of technology architecture and user experience. This wallet is embedded directly into the Rumble video platform, allowing users to make crypto payments without leaving the platform. In the initial phase, the wallet supports three main digital assets: Bitcoin(BTC), Tether USD(USDT), and Tether Gold(XAUt). According to Tether’s official announcement, Tether USAT will also be added to the support list in the coming weeks.

For creators, this integration offers a direct, instant, and borderless payment method. Creators can bypass traditional ad networks, banks, and payment processors, receiving compensation directly through content.

More importantly, Rumble Wallet is a non-custodial wallet, meaning users always retain full control over their funds. The private keys are controlled by the users themselves, not stored on centralized platform servers.

Technical Implementation

The technical foundation of Rumble Wallet is Tether’s Wallet Development Kit(WDK), an open-source, modular, self-hosted wallet deployment tool. This marks the first real deployment of WDK, representing an important step for Tether to extend its wallet infrastructure from exchanges and DeFi applications to broader consumer platforms. To make crypto payments easier to use, Rumble Wallet integrates MoonPay’s fiat on/off-ramp services. Users can buy cryptocurrencies using credit cards, Apple Pay, PayPal, and Venmo, or convert crypto into fiat currency.

MoonPay, as a compliant payment infrastructure provider, holds a New York BitLicense and multiple state money transmission licenses in the US, as well as MiCA authorization in the EU, serving over 30 million customers across 180 countries.

Market Impact and Price Dynamics

The launch of Rumble Wallet coincides with a new phase in the cryptocurrency market. As of January 8, 2026, based on Gate market data, the performance of related assets is as follows: Bitcoin, as digital gold and a store of value, continues to dominate the crypto market. Recent data shows Bitcoin’s price has experienced slight gains over the past week, with trading activity remaining stable. Market observers suggest that mainstream platforms like Rumble integrating Bitcoin payment features could further solidify Bitcoin’s position in the digital payment ecosystem.

USDT, the largest stablecoin by market cap, remains stable around $1. As more platforms like Rumble adopt USDT for daily payments and tips, its dominant position in the stablecoin market is expected to strengthen further.

Tether Gold(XAUt), a tokenized gold product, offers users an option to include precious metals in their digital asset portfolio. With gold prices reaching record highs, such assets may attract more investors seeking stability.

Rumble’s stock(RUM) surged over 10% after announcing the $100 million advertising deal with Tether. As of the latest data, Rumble’s stock trades around $6.72.

Creator Economy Transformation

The launch of Rumble Wallet signifies a paradigm shift in the creator economy. Traditionally, content creators’ income heavily depends on platform ad revenue and brand sponsorships, often limited by geography, high fees, and payment delays. Rumble founder and CEO Chris Pavlovski stated: “Rumble stands for free speech and liberty, just as cryptocurrency and the decentralized internet represent freedom, and Rumble Wallet is a natural combination of both.”

Crypto payments offer creators a way to bypass traditional financial intermediaries. By directly accepting digital assets from viewers, creators can enjoy faster settlements, lower transaction costs, and borderless global payments. For viewers, this means they can directly support their favorite creators without worrying about payment channel restrictions or regional blocks. It also enables micro-payments, allowing viewers to express appreciation with small amounts.

Future Outlook

The launch of Rumble Wallet marks an important step for cryptocurrency’s mainstream adoption. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said: “At Tether, we advocate for promoting freedom, decentralization, and fundamental free speech rights.”

As more platforms explore similar integrations, we may see the creator economy and decentralized finance(DeFi) become more closely intertwined. In the future, creators will not only earn through crypto tips but also leverage these assets to participate in broader financial activities such as earning interest, providing liquidity, or borrowing against collateral—all without leaving their content creation and interaction platforms.

The success of Rumble Wallet could also accelerate other social media and content platforms to adopt crypto payment features, pushing the entire industry toward a more open, decentralized value exchange ecosystem.

Embedded crypto wallets are gradually breaking down financial barriers between content creators and global audiences. On Rumble, viewers from the US just tipped an independent journalist in Serbia with Bitcoin, while a Japanese animator received support from Brazilian fans via USDT. Rumble Wallet’s daily transaction volume has surpassed several million dollars within a week, with over 500,000 creators activating their crypto wallets. Thousands of cross-border tips are completed in seconds daily, completely bypassing traditional banking systems. When financial freedom meets free speech in code, the boundaries of the creator economy are being redefined.