Tether's Growing Investment in Rumble
Rumble shares experienced a significant surge, climbing over 14% on Monday. This upward movement followed the disclosure by stablecoin giant Tether that it had acquired an additional 1 million shares of the video streaming platform in the preceding week. RUM, the ticker symbol for Rumble, was trading at $6.51 shortly after the purchase announcement.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings reveal that Tether executed three separate transactions last week, acquiring 1,063,670 additional RUM shares. These purchases were made at prices ranging between $5.38 and $5.46, with the total investment amounting to approximately $5.75 million.
Based on available regulatory filings, Tether's current holdings in Rumble now approach 104.4 million shares. At current market prices, this stake is valued at roughly $680 million. The stablecoin issuer's initial investment in the YouTube competitor was made last year, totaling $775 million for over 103 million shares acquired at $7.50 per share.
Following the announcement of Tether's initial investment, RUM shares saw a substantial increase, spiking to $10.57, which represented a jump of approximately 40% at the time. However, despite Monday's gains, the shares have experienced a steady decline since January, resulting in year-to-date losses of nearly 50%.
Deepening Partnership and Future Initiatives
The collaboration between Tether and Rumble extends beyond equity investments, with the companies forging a deeper partnership. Earlier this month, Tether committed to supporting a deal that would enable Rumble to acquire Northern Data, a firm specializing in AI and high-performance computing.
As part of this collaboration, Tether plans to purchase $150 million worth of graphics processing units (GPUs) from Rumble. These GPUs are intended to facilitate the creation of tools designed to empower content creators globally. Additionally, the stablecoin issuer has pledged to invest up to $100 million in advertising initiatives through Rumble, with the aim of increasing the adoption and usage of its cryptocurrency wallet.
The strategic alignment between the two companies was further highlighted in October when their respective CEOs appeared together at the Plan B Forum in Lugano, Switzerland. During this event, they announced plans to integrate a cryptocurrency tipping feature into the Rumble platform. This integration is expected to allow Rumble users to send tips to creators using Bitcoin and USDT.
Cryptocurrency Integration and Rumble's Bitcoin Holdings
The Bitcoin tipping feature has already entered a testing phase as of October and is anticipated to be fully rolled out by early to mid-December. Rumble has been progressively strengthening its cryptocurrency ties since announcing the establishment of a Bitcoin reserve last November, a move that followed a similar strategy adopted by Strategy.
As of the end of the third quarter, Rumble reported holding 210.82 Bitcoin. This reserve is currently valued at approximately $18.5 million. Bitcoin was recently trading at $88,392, marking an increase of about 1.9% over the preceding 24 hours.