Popular crypto firm, Tether has announced that it has a minority shareholder stake in Italian Serie A soccer club, Juventus FC. Tether powers the $140 billion-worth stablecoin, USDT.
In a statement published on its website, it said that the firm’s investment arm, Tether Investments, acquired a minority stake in the sports club: “Tether will be a pioneer in merging new technologies, such as digital assets, AI, and biotech, with the well-established sports industry to drive change globally”, said Tether CEO, Paolo Arduino.
Juventus is a Turin-based Italian Football Club that is presently controlled by Italy’s Agnelli family through their investment company Exor. The club’s shares, which are publicly traded on the Italian stock exchange, advanced 2.5% immediately after the news.
“Aligned with our strategic investment in Juve, Tether will be a pioneer in merging new technologies, such as digital assets, AI, and biotech, with the well-established sports industry to drive change globally,” Paolo added in his statement.
The price of the club’s crypto fan token (JUV) surged nearly 200% in minutes before paring some of the gains, CoinGecko data shows.
The acquisition comes after Tether reported $13 billion in profits last year, and expanded beyond its core stablecoin business with investments in artificial intelligence, payments and energy companies.
To explain, Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency which aims to keep a constant value and are usually backed by traditional assets such as dollars. Specifically, USDT is pegged to the United States dollar and mostly maintains parity with the $1 mark.
Buying Juve amidst USDT’s in Europe
Recall that two weeks ago, Crypto.com delisted Tether’s USDT and nine other tokens in Europe. The action follows the decision to comply with the implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework. The platform also gave users until March 31 to convert their assets.
The cryptocurrency exchange platform is among the first to announce the delisting after a recent statement from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) that forced European crypto asset service providers (CASP) to restrict non-MiCA-compliant stablecoins. ESMA is the EU’s financial markets regulator and one of the key supervisors of MiCA compliance.
ESMA’s statement suggested that Tether’s USDT, the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, is subject to restrictions in the EU.
“By ESMA’s definition, USDT is a non-compliant asset. Tether does not have a license. There was no debate around this. No trace of USDT should remain, not even in ‘sell-only’ mode by March 31,” Juan Ignacio Ibañez, a member of the Technical Committee of the MiCA Crypto AllianceI said, concluding that Tether is not an authorized issuer under MiCA.
On its part, the stablecoin noted that it is aware of the evolving regulatory landscape under MiCA and its potential implications for the stablecoin market. It added that efforts are being made to arrest the situation.
Since full MiCA enforcement, multiple CASPs in Europe have obtained MiCA licenses, while others, including Crypto.com, have been actively working to secure one in Malta.
USDT is the largest stablecoin on the market, with a market capitalization of $139 billion according to CoinGecko. Its largest competitor, USDC, was greenlighted as a MiCA-compliant stablecoin in July 2024 with its market cap currently amounting to $52 billion.
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