MrBeast just looked at YouTube ad revenue and said, “Cool, but what if I also owned your debit card?”

In a move that feels extremely on-brand for the internet’s most aggressive philanthropist-capitalist hybrid, MrBeast (real name: Jimmy Donaldson) just bought a fintech company.

Beast Industries (the ever-expanding corporate mothership behind horrible tasting chocolate bars, reality shows, and cash giveaways for things like “who can sit on the toilet the longest for $10 million” has officially acquired Step, a financial services app built for teens and Gen Z adults who are one bad Klarna decision away from financial ruin.

No price tag was disclosed, which usually means one of two things: the number was huge and everyone involved signed an NDA thick enough to stop a bullet

Either way, the youtuber known for spending all of his money on a single youtube video is now in the business of teaching teenagers about saving money (sometimes the jokes just write themselves). 

Step bills itself as an all-in-one money app for young people… banking, saving, spending, sending money, investing, and building credit, all wrapped in a friendly UI that doesn’t scream “welcome to the rest of your miserable life.”

Think Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University… but wearing baggy pants, blasting Playboi Carti, and doing thirst-trap TikToks between lessons on APR.

(Source: CNBC)

And according to the king of dopamine hits, that’s kind of the point.

“Nobody taught me about investing, building credit, or managing money when I was growing up,” Donaldson said, in what might be the most relatable sentence ever spoken by a man who randomly gives away islands. 

Through his new app, he wants to give young people the financial foundation he never had… ideally before they discover margin trading TikTok. He also wants you to believe this is being done purely out of the kindness of his heart and that there’s absolutely nothing in it for him. Classic MrBeast.

To be fair, Step already has more than 7 million users, serious tech infrastructure, and an in-house fintech team. Plug that into MrBeast’s 450+ million subscribers and 5 billion monthly views, and the thing could be doing Acorn numbers… like yesterday.

There’s nothing accidental about this. Beast Industries has been methodically building a consumer empire piece by piece. Feastables prints money. Beast Games pulls Prime Video eyeballs. Beast Philanthropy buys goodwill at industrial scale. Fintech was the obvious next boss fight.

(Source: MrBeast)

Step also comes with serious credibility. The company is backed by Stripe, along with YUGE venture firms like Coatue and General Catalyst. It’s partnered with Evolve Bank & Trust for banking services, offers a Visa card, and doesn’t charge monthly fees… which already puts it ahead of 90% of banks your parents use.

And if you’re wondering how Beast Industries is funding all this: it recently raised $200 million from Bitmine Immersion Technologies, chaired by Fundstrat’s Tom Lee. Because of course it did.

Also worth noting: leaked pitch decks from last year showed Beast Industries eyeing everything from fintech to a low-cost mobile phone carrier. So, don’t be surprised if in 15 years we’re referring to the youtuber as “Mr. President.”

MrBeast buying a fintech app sounds ridiculous until you sit with it for five seconds… and then it clicks. He already owns attention. He already owns distribution. Now he wants the on-ramp to adulthood. You can joke about YouTubers running banks all you want, but if you’re a 16-year-old clinically online kid… are you really opening a checking account at some beige strip-mall bank? Or are you signing up with the guy you’ve spent thousands of hours watching, trusting, and buying merch from?

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News doesn’t hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.