By Stacy Jones
3 min read
Social media personality James Stephen Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, filed a trademark for MrBeast Financial, which he intends to use for a downloadable app that will provide cryptocurrency exchange and payment processing services.
The application also covers investment banking services, insurance, financial wellness education, microfinance lending services, and the “financial exchange of cryptocurrency via decentralized exchanges (DEXs).”
If Donaldson does intend for the MrBeast Financial mark to be attached to a crypto exchange or payments platform, he’ll need to register as a Money Services Business with FinCEN, get state-level money transmitted licenses, and get approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission or Commodities and Futures Trading Commission depending on how the platform would operate.
As of this writing, he doesn’t appear to have filed for any of those. MrBeast Holding did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.
MrBeast is the most-subscribed individual creator on YouTube with 446 million subscribers as of Friday. He’s known for his high-budget stunts, like recreating the Squid Game in real life with a $456,000 prize, giving away a private island, or challenging other YouTube creators to compete for a private jet.
MrBeast is also no stranger to crypto. He’s been involved in the space since at least 2021, investing in startups and making flashy NFT purchases, amassing at least eight CryptoPunks at the peak. Since then, eagle-eyed crypto sleuths have tracked his publicly known wallets and watched for signals and notable movements.
His latest trademark application, which was filed on Monday by Donaldson’s Beast Holdings parent company, hasn’t yet been assigned to an examiner.
If it’s approved, it’ll join a portfolio of 52 different trademarks owned by his company. They include MrBeast Gaming, MrBeast Burger, MrBeast Philanthropy, and MrBeast Bar. A few, but not all of them, have turned into real products or services.
MrBeast Burger started as a ghost kitchen delivery service that uses local restaurant partners to fulfill orders under the brand’s name. It’s now got a physical location in the American Dream Mall in New Jersey.
The MrBeast Bar trademark was initially used to launch Feastables. The snack company caught some flak after Donaldson asked fans to clean up in-store chocolate bar displays and offered to enter them into a $5,000 raffle if they sent him proof of having done it.
The Finger on the App brand was used to launch a mobile game that challenged players to keep a finger on their phone screen. The last person with a finger still on the screen won $25,000.
Some of his others, like Beast Mode, MrBeast Mode, and Beast Games, haven’t yet come to fruition. But it’s also common practice for companies to file defensive trademarks to stop others from laundering a product or service using the name.
There have been a handful of other crypto trademarks filed recently, including one from Ripple Labs for the mark “Ripple Custody.” The company actually launched its “bank-grade custody solution” in 2024, then registered the trademark in February.
Wall Street titan JP Morgan drew questions from the industry when it registered “JPMD” as a trademark, reserving its use for “trading, exchange, transfer and payment services for digital assets.” There was speculation, but never confirmation, that it might be intended for a stablecoin.
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