TikTok bid submitted by OnlyFans founder's startup and crypto foundation behind Hedera: Reuters

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  • Zoop, a startup ran by OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely, and the HBAR Foundation, the chief advocate behind the Hedera blockchain, have joined forces to bid on TikTok, according to Reuters.

OnlyFans founder Tim Stokley's latest venture Zoop, and the HBAR Foundation, the non-profit behind the Hedera blockchain, have formed an alliance to buy the wildly popular social media app TikTok from Chinese owner ByteDance, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The "intent" to bid on TikTok was sent to the White House and U.S. President Donald Trump this week, the report also said

Zoop and HBAR "have been working with a consortium of investors," according to RJ Phillips, who co-founded Zoop and is co-CEO of it alongside Stokely. "Our bid for TikTok isn't just about changing ownership, it's about creating a new paradigm where both creators and their communities benefit directly from the value they generate," Phillips told Reuters.

It's unclear how much the Zoop-HBAR Foundation bid is valued at or if the partners could make a large enough offer to be competitive. Amazon has also put in a bid to buy TikTok, according to a New York Times report from Wednesday.

Reuters also said that Trump is expected to consider at least one proposal to buy TikTok on Wednesday. "ByteDance faces an April 5 deadline to either sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban on national security grounds under a U.S. law that took effect on January 19."


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RT Watson is a senior reporter at The Block who covers a wide array of topics including U.S.-based companies, blockchain gaming and NFTs. Formerly covered entertainment at The Wall Street Journal, where he wrote about Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. and the creator economy while focusing primarily on technological disruption across media. Previous to that he covered corporate, economic and political news in Brazil while at Bloomberg. RT has interviewed a diverse cast of characters including CEOs, media moguls, top influencers, politicians, blue-collar workers, drug traffickers and convicted criminals. Holds a master's degree in Digital Sociology.

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