MrBeast Pushes His Money App After Tom Lee's $200M Crypto Bet — But Where’s the Crypto?

MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) is promoting Step, a financial app, through a video in which a couple, Sara and Tre, complete a weight-loss challenge and win $350,000, which is deposited into their Step account. The promotion, which the publisher notes reached over 100 million viewers on that video alone, directs viewers to a QR code and advertises a $5 incentive after a first Step card purchase using a promotional code. Donaldson describes Step as "the most rewarding way to set yourself up for your financial future," saying it pays users to build credit and helps them invest and manage money. The publisher notes that Donaldson refers to a "Step Bank account," although Step's website describes the company as a financial technology provider, not a bank.

The pitch's omission of digital assets stands out against the backdrop of Bitmine's $200 million investment in Beast Industries, announced nine months earlier by Tom Lee's Bitmine. That deal fueled speculation that MrBeast could help introduce younger audiences to Ethereum and crypto. In January, Beast Industries CEO Jeff Housenbold said the company looked forward to "exploring ways to further collaborate and incorporate DeFi into our upcoming financial services platform." Beast Industries, however, had not announced plans to introduce digital assets to Step, and in April a company spokesperson said the future offering was still being assessed.

The issue carries regulatory and reputational weight. Step introduced crypto trading in 2022, allowing underage users to participate with parental approval, and discontinued the service in 2024 before Beast Industries took ownership. In a March letter to Donaldson and Housenbold, Sen. Elizabeth Warren questioned whether parental permission alone provided sufficient protection, citing a Step video titled "How to Talk to Your Parents About Investing in Crypto." Warren wrote that Step "published resources encouraging kids to pressure their parents into crypto investments."

The publisher also details Donaldson's prior crypto activity, including a 2021 appearance on Logan Paul's IMPAULSIVE podcast in which he said he had bought eight CryptoPunks and sold them for returns of roughly 20 to 30 times his investment. In September 2025, CCN reported on blockchain investigators linking MrBeast to Aster purchases; Donaldson publicly denied involvement. Separately, disputes over his entertainment business, including a 2024 lawsuit by five Beast Games contestants alleging unsafe conditions and a hostile environment for women, and criticism of working conditions from former employees, have drawn attention to trust issues as he expands into finance.

The reach behind the promotion is substantial. YouTube confirmed on June 12, 2026, that MrBeast reached 500 million subscribers after becoming its most-subscribed channel in June 2024. The publisher notes that a 1% conversion of those subscribers would equal five million users, roughly 71% of the seven million users Step advertises. The publisher's reporting does not establish that Step's crypto ambitions have been abandoned; it notes only that they have not yet appeared in the product's public offering.