The largest digital asset issuing company in the world, Tether, has announced minority ownership in Juventus, Italy’s most successful football club.
The digital asset company confirmed its acquisition and revealed it is now “uniquely positioned to integrate its futuristic portfolio into the realms of the sports industry”, alluding to integrating its blockchain technology into Juventus’ infrastructure.
Tether is the sole issuer of the USDT stablecoin, the largest and most used stablecoin in the crypto market, with a market capitalisation of over $140bn and more than 400 million users.
USDT now has the capacity to be implemented within Juventus’ wider infrastructure which may include payment support for club ticketing, merchandise, etc., as well as the blockchain’s USDT is supported on, such as Ethereum, Tezos, Solana and more.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, stated: “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.
“We will explore avenues for innovative collaborations and the potential to revolutionise the global sports landscape.”
Whilst crypto and digital asset companies engaging with football clubs is nothing new, inking a plethora of sponsorship deals in the last several years, Tether owning a minority stake in a football club – a club the size of Juventus too no less – represents a resurgence in confidence from teams in the crypto sector.
Before a crypto market crash in 2022, crypto companies like Binance had signed sponsorship deals with Italian club Lazio, and many more followed suit. However, several collapses in 2022 led to a cataclysmic loss in consumer confidence, which it is still arguably recovering from.
Fast-forward two years from 2022, and sports clubs began to renew their interest in the market, with BlockDAG explaining to Insider Sport in September last year on why the two markets were able to build back that trust that had been lost.
Now, in what may be the largest indicator of trust, Juventus have brought onboard Tether to potentially break through the barriers of what blockchain technology is truly capable of when embedded into a largescale infrastructure that Juventus possesses.
The ‘Old Lady’ is the most successful Italian football club in history, with Juventus winning 36 Serie A league titles, 15 Coppa Italia’s and two European Cups.
Tether will lean on its investment arm to integrate digital assets, payments and newly-acquired AI and biotech capabilities to build an advisory team that will spearhead its operations at Juventus.
The USDT issuer stated that the minority acquisition marks a “significant milestone” in its goal of integrating its digital assets to benefit “everyday life” for fans of the club.
