Juventus Fan Token Slides Over 13% After Tether Bid Rebuff, Even as Club Shares Surge

Juventus’ fan token (JUV) slid more than 13% from its intraday peak after a takeover bid of 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) by stablecoin issuer Tether was rebuffed.

JUV climbed to over $0.85, its highest mark since the start of November, at around 21:00 UTC on Sunday, but subsequently tracked downward to fall below $0.74 as of the early European morning on Monday, according to CoinGecko data.

The token’s decline contrasted with a sharp rally in Juventus Football Club’s publicly listed shares, which jumped just over 14% on Monday to 2.50 euros, following news of Tether’s all-cash proposal and its rejection by controlling shareholder Exor.

Tether’s all-cash proposal, made Friday at a 21% premium and valuing Juventus at 1.1 billion euros, marks one of the most significant crypto-backed moves into professional sports to date. Tether operates USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization.

Crypto exchanges invested $568 million in sports sponsorships for the 2024-2025 season, a 20% year-over-year increase, according to sports marketing firm SportQuake. Soccer still dominates, accounting for nearly 60% of all new sponsorships.

Tether, already Juventus’ second-largest shareholder with an 11.53% stake in the club, on Friday made an all-cash proposal to buy Exor’s 65.4% holding for 2.66 euros a share, according to a letter sent to Exor and seen by Bloomberg.

Exor, the Agnelli family-controlled holding company, whose assets include automaker Stellantis (Fiat), released a statement on Saturday, saying it has “no intention of selling any of its shares in Juventus to a third party, including but not restricted to El Salvador-based Tether.”