‘Make Juventus Great Again’: Crypto Firm Tether Buys Stake in Soccer Club

Stablecoin issuer Tether announced Friday it has purchased a minority ownership stake in Italy’s Juventus Football Club.

The company did not share the exact terms of the deal, but a Tether spokesperson told Front Office Sports: “Tether announced its stake publicly, as part of its obligations, when it crossed 5% of voting rights.” 

Juventus has not responded to an FOS request for confirmation of the purchase. Exor, the holding company that owns Ferrari and a controlling 64% stake in the club, told Reuters it has not sold any shares to Tether.

According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, its “strategic investment” in the soccer powerhouse will help the digital assets company become a “pioneer in merging new technologies, such as digital assets, AI, and biotech, with the well-established sports industry to drive change globally.” Forbes values Juventus at more than $2 billion, putting it at No. 11 among global soccer clubs.

Front Office Sports reached out to Tether for comment on what types of crypto integrations fans and players might expect from the investment but did not receive an answer before publication.

Plenty of cryptocurrency firms have invested in sports, but it’s mostly been straight sponsorships.

Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com swooped in to buy the naming rights to the Lakers arena for $700 million in 2022. FTX famously purchased the naming rights to the Miami Heat arena for 19 years for $135 million in 2021, only to have its letters unceremoniously removed from the building after declaring bankruptcy less than two years later. Coinbase advertises on NBA courts. And crypto brands are all over European soccer kits: Kraken partnered with Tottenham Hotspur, and Zondacrypto sponsored Atalanta, Parma, and Juventus.

Tether is the largest stablecoin in the world, with a market cap above $141 billion as of Friday. Unlike other cryptocurrencies with fluctuating exchange rates, stablecoins are designed to hold their value relative to a government-issued currency. One USDT, therefore, should always equal $1, give or take a few fractions of a cent. Tether ostensibly represents an easier way to send borderless transactions, especially in places where dollars are hard to come by.

But Tether is also the most controversial name in the crypto industry. The Treasury Department has reportedly weighed sanctions against Tether for its use by designated terror groups and rogue governments, including Hamas and North Korea. That same Wall Street Journal report says Tether has been under investigation by federal prosecutors for bank fraud for years. Tether publicly disputed the reporting, which was based on anonymous sources.

Other controversies have divided the cryptocurrency ecosystem, which relies heavily on stablecoin transfers for liquidity.

For years, Tether claimed that each USDT stablecoin it issued was backed by $1 in its reserves. But after the New York Attorney General’s office investigated an $850 million Tether loan in 2018 to its sister company, crypto exchange Bitfinex, it concluded the company was misleading the public about its reserves. In 2021, Tether settled for $18.5 million and agreed to stop doing business with New York citizens, but did not admit to wrongdoing.

Subsequent “transparency reports” from the firm revealed that most of Tether’s reserves weren’t in literal dollars but in cash equivalents like U.S. Treasury bills. A large chunk was not in cash-equivalents at all, but in everything from unsecured corporate debt to crypto tokens. Its most recent report, from Dec. 31, shows that the bulk of its $143 billion in reserves are in U.S. Treasury bills. 

Whatever potential legal problems the company faces might be easing soon, given the inauguration of President Trump, who campaigned for crypto voters and has promised clear regulations for the industry.

Notably, Trump’s pick for U.S. Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, runs the finance firm Cantor Fitzgerald, which holds a 5% ownership interest in Tether. Echoing the language of the current administration, Tether’s Italian CEO Paolo Ardoino posted on X Friday: “Make Juventus Great Again.” 

Nearly two-thirds of the way into the season, Juventus sits at fifth in the Serie A table—just two points away from a Champions League spot.