In a surprising twist to the high-stakes TikTok bidding war, billionaire Tim Stokely, founder of OnlyFans, has reportedly teamed up with the HBAR Foundation to make a late-stage bid for the short-form video giant from ByteDance.
The proposal, submitted this week to the White House, brings a new tech angle to one of the most closely watched deals in recent memory, Reuters reported Wednesday.
In partnership with the HBAR Foundation, which oversees the Hedera network’s crypto treasury, Zoop aims to reimagine TikTok as a more decentralized, creator-forward platform. While details of the bid remain under wraps, the partnership is reportedly backed by a consortium of investors.
Stokely’s new venture, Zoop, is a mainstream content platform that rewards creators for engagement—a model that mirrors Web3 principles of ownership and revenue sharing.
Meanwhile, the White House, led by Vice President JD Vance in this process, is reviewing multiple proposals, effectively acting as auctioneer in a deal with massive geopolitical and cultural stakes.
The timing is critical. ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, has until April 5 to divest the app’s US operations or face a nationwide ban under a bipartisan law aimed at limiting foreign influence.
As Washington weighs national security concerns against constitutional rights and business interests, crypto-backed players are emerging as unexpected contenders in the race to acquire one of the world’s most influential apps.
The Zoop-HBAR bid stands out as it reflects a growing view in the crypto space that big Web2 platforms, if bought and reshaped, could help test key Web3 ideas like digital ownership, token rewards, and shared control.