YouTube King Enters Finance

Beast Industries, the company owned by the world’s most popular YouTube creator Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, has announced the acquisition of fintech app Step – a service designed for teenagers and young adults. The news, first reported by CNBC, is yet another example of how a new generation of influencers is no longer limited to media fame, but is evolving into full-scale business ecosystems far beyond content and entertainment.

The deal value has not been disclosed, but the acquisition itself signals serious ambitions from Beast Industries. Step is not a small “garage startup,” but a platform backed by major fintech players. Its investors include Stripe, along with funds such as Coatue, Collaborative Fund, Crosslink Capital, and General Catalyst. This indicates that Step has long been on the radar of institutional investors and was seen as a promising tool for the next wave of financial digitalization.

Now operating under the Beast Industries umbrella, Step expands the MrBeast ecosystem not only into a new sector but potentially into a new mission. Financial literacy and youth access to basic financial tools are becoming part of a brand previously associated mainly with entertainment, charity, and viral challenges.

Step positions itself as an all-in-one finance app for teens and young adults, built around a simple idea: giving people entering adulthood the tools that traditional education often leaves out. Money management, credit building, first steps into investing, seamless payments, and savings – all are integrated into a single digital interface designed for a smartphone-native generation.

Founded in 2018 by fintech veterans CJ MacDonald and Alexey Kalinichenko, Step’s mission has been to improve financial literacy for the next generation by offering not theoretical lessons, but a practical everyday product.

MrBeast explained the motivation behind the deal in a personal message to his audience:

“Nobody taught me how to invest, build credit, or manage money when I was growing up. That’s why we’re partnering with Step. I want to give millions of young people a financial foundation that I didn’t have. I’ll share more updates soon.”

This statement matters beyond its emotional appeal. It shows MrBeast is betting on long-term social capital. Financial literacy remains one of the most pressing challenges for young people in the US and Europe, where credit systems directly shape quality of life. If Step can truly become a “first bank in your pocket” for teenagers, it could grow into one of the most significant fintech projects of the next generation.

Although Step is not legally a bank, the company partnered with Evolve Bank & Trust in 2022 to provide banking services. Its products include the Step Visa card, spending and savings accounts, money transfers, and commission-free investing options. This makes the app especially attractive to younger users who want to avoid traditional banking barriers, fees, and bureaucracy.

According to Beast Industries, Step already has over 7 million users, and its technological foundation and in-house fintech team are expected to strengthen a company whose audience exceeds 450 million subscribers. MrBeast’s content generates around 5 billion views per month, making him one of the most powerful digital media forces in the world.

Beast Industries CEO Jeff Housenbold emphasized that this is more than just buying an app – it is a strategic move: “This acquisition allows us to engage with our audience where they are, offering practical technology solutions that can genuinely improve their financial future.”

The logic is clear. While traditional banks have spent decades trying to “reach” young people through advertising, MrBeast already exists inside that audience. He is not bringing teenagers into finance – he is bringing finance directly to where teenagers already are.

In recent months, Beast Industries has been raising capital aggressively, increasingly resembling a hybrid between a media conglomerate and a venture fund. Among recent developments is a $200 million investment from Bitmine Immersion Technologies, the largest corporate holder of Ethereum, led by Fundstrat’s Tom Lee. This adds another layer: MrBeast is building an empire not only in consumer products, but at the intersection of technology, digital assets, and future infrastructure.

Beyond the fintech direction, the MrBeast ecosystem includes the Feastables snack brand, the Beast Philanthropy charitable division, and the Beast Games show on Amazon Prime Video. In essence, he is no longer just a blogger, but a full-fledged new-type brand – a blend of media, business, social mission, and a technological platform.

At the same time, MrBeast’s name has previously appeared in crypto-related controversies. In 2024, Musca Capital Trader CEO Kasper Vandeloock and a group of researchers accused him of “$23 million crypto fraud,” alleging insider trading and misleading investors through token promotions. These accusations remain part of the reputational backdrop that will follow any financial moves he makes.

That is why the Step acquisition looks particularly significant: MrBeast appears to be shifting away from the toxic zone of meme-token hype toward a more legitimate and socially approved fintech product aimed at mass adoption.

The Beast Industries-Step deal is more than corporate news. It is a signal that the next financial infrastructure may be built not only by banks and governments, but also by digital brands with audiences in the hundreds of millions.

If teenagers once learned about money from school textbooks, they may soon be learning financial literacy through an app backed by MrBeast. Times are changing. And sometimes the most unexpected “bank of the future” comes not from Wall Street, but from YouTube.