00:07:02 · Guillaume Moubeche, Steven Schwartz
[00:07:02] S1: And from that, know, like payment infrastructure, most companies are trying, you know, to increase the fees and make like a huge markup on top of it. From what I've heard, you reduced the the margin a lot. Can you, like, explain, like, the reasoning behind it? [00:07:20] S0: We think that the payments piece is super commoditized, and it's like we're not trying to play a game of raising to the bottom, because, like I said, there's 50 companies that can help process payments. So for us, the faster we can get it to zero, at least that part of the business, the better. So we we are not trying to make our money from pure payment processing. That's why we have a cheapest. [00:07:44] S1: And how do you make money? [00:07:45] S0: So there's there's a lot of other things you can do on Whop and accept payments. And some of these things right now, you can can invest in in Bitcoin. You can invest in in tokenized securities. You can issue cards pretty soon. You can run ads, and we make more money on those. You can accept financing, buy now, pay later, and make more money on that. So those are... That's that's how we make money. [00:08:14] S1: And do you feel now you're more like a a global infrastructure for a business? [00:08:19] S0: I do feel like that. I feel like our number one priority right now is to make sure that we're onboarding as many businesses and platforms as we can. And through that, we we wanna focus, first and foremost, on business owners and people that have their own business.
00:08:19 · Steven Schwartz, Guillaume Moubeche
[00:08:19] S0: I do feel like that. I feel like our number one priority right now is to make sure that we're onboarding as many businesses and platforms as we can. And through that, we we wanna focus, first and foremost, on business owners and people that have their own business. [00:08:34] S1: And I think recently, you've made, like, a partnership or fundraise with Tether. [00:08:39] S0: That's right. [00:08:40] S1: Can you explain, like, why you did it, and what's the goal with it long term? [00:08:44] S0: Yeah. So Tether is the biggest stablecoin company in the world, and they basically are the predominant currency for maybe almost 10% of the entire globe. And I think they have five fifty million people a month that use Tether. So we are, a lot of ways, relevant to that, because how are people actually making the money? And if people can use Whop to make the money, and use stablecoin rails, and use Tether to facilitate transfers, and all the cool stuff that people wanna do with their money afterwards, it's a really awesome partnership. So they they agreed to invest in in Whop, and they've invested in Whop. And we are very close with their team, they're awesome awesome people. [00:09:24] S1: That's really cool. And congrats with the partnership. It's it's really inspiring. Thank you. And whenever you you want to build, like, all this functionality and features, like being able to get a credit card, etcetera, I'm assuming in The US, you have also, like, a lot of legislation. And... So how exactly do you tackle these kind of problems?
00:09:24 · Guillaume Moubeche, Steven Schwartz
[00:09:24] S1: That's really cool. And congrats with the partnership. It's it's really inspiring. Thank you. And whenever you you want to build, like, all this functionality and features, like being able to get a credit card, etcetera, I'm assuming in The US, you have also, like, a lot of legislation. And... So how exactly do you tackle these kind of problems? [00:09:46] S0: Yes. Totally. There's KYC. And through KYC, we make sure that we're not... We we know who is making the money, and it's not somebody in a terrorist group, for example. And there's different requirements that are mostly on anti money laundering. The government doesn't want people to be washing money and laundering their money. So they have a database that we partner up with different providers, and they check to see, okay, this person is who they say they are. They are not in a crime circle, and it's okay to send the money. So have that, so we have very good KYC and very good guardrails on who the people are. And then there's what are people actually selling. So if a quality person, you're not in a crime circle, but you're selling drugs on the platform, that needs to be off the platform, and we have a lot of monitoring and very extensive reporting around all that. And when there's bad stuff, we have to report it, those are some of the legislation I suppose around what you're asking. We take all that very seriously, and part of our responsibility in building an Internet market is to make sure everyone's safe. So we we... It's an important part of our business.
00:09:46 · Steven Schwartz, Guillaume Moubeche
[00:09:46] S0: Yes. Totally. There's KYC. And through KYC, we make sure that we're not... We we know who is making the money, and it's not somebody in a terrorist group, for example. And there's different requirements that are mostly on anti money laundering. The government doesn't want people to be washing money and laundering their money. So they have a database that we partner up with different providers, and they check to see, okay, this person is who they say they are. They are not in a crime circle, and it's okay to send the money. So have that, so we have very good KYC and very good guardrails on who the people are. And then there's what are people actually selling. So if a quality person, you're not in a crime circle, but you're selling drugs on the platform, that needs to be off the platform, and we have a lot of monitoring and very extensive reporting around all that. And when there's bad stuff, we have to report it, those are some of the legislation I suppose around what you're asking. We take all that very seriously, and part of our responsibility in building an Internet market is to make sure everyone's safe. So we we... It's an important part of our business. [00:10:58] S1: So whenever you started this, you started, like, with different partners who have, like, licenses and and are regulated to accelerate, like, the setup. Is it something long term that you want to internalize? Or do you feel like some of the features you're developing are fine with with partners?
00:10:58 · Guillaume Moubeche, Steven Schwartz
[00:10:58] S1: So whenever you started this, you started, like, with different partners who have, like, licenses and and are regulated to accelerate, like, the setup. Is it something long term that you want to internalize? Or do you feel like some of the features you're developing are fine with with partners? [00:11:19] S0: So we want to lean hard into the future of stablecoins. And I think because the... Inherently, when you deal with the blockchain and you deal with stablecoins, everything is transparent and open, and there's not a lot of you can't really fake much. So the more we lean into that, the fewer in house things we have to do. Because everything is on chain, and it's actually the people are the ones that have the money, and are moving the money, and so on. So our first answer is that long term, we wanna be more on chain, and take advantage of the the the good that stablecoins bring. I think in the short term, we are very invested in partners that have already figured all that stuff out. And our bread and butter, again, isn't really on payment processing. We don't even call ourselves payment processor, people call us that, but it's it's more that we've integrated the right partners and have available the right features that let people do that. And we don't have to get the licensing because they all have it, and they've been working in the last ten, fifteen years on that, and we can focus on other parts of the business journey that we feel we're better at.
00:11:19 · Steven Schwartz, Guillaume Moubeche
[00:11:19] S0: So we want to lean hard into the future of stablecoins. And I think because the... Inherently, when you deal with the blockchain and you deal with stablecoins, everything is transparent and open, and there's not a lot of you can't really fake much. So the more we lean into that, the fewer in house things we have to do. Because everything is on chain, and it's actually the people are the ones that have the money, and are moving the money, and so on. So our first answer is that long term, we wanna be more on chain, and take advantage of the the the good that stablecoins bring. I think in the short term, we are very invested in partners that have already figured all that stuff out. And our bread and butter, again, isn't really on payment processing. We don't even call ourselves payment processor, people call us that, but it's it's more that we've integrated the right partners and have available the right features that let people do that. And we don't have to get the licensing because they all have it, and they've been working in the last ten, fifteen years on that, and we can focus on other parts of the business journey that we feel we're better at. [00:12:29] S1: And can you explain for people, like, the difference of Tether versus, I don't know, USD that you would process? Like, what's the difference and what makes it... [00:12:39] S0: The difference of Tether and USDC or USD? [00:12:41] S1: No. You... Like, fiat currency, like, normal Well,