Last Friday, an earthquake discreetly shook the corridors of high finance in Turin. A firm buyout offer, "all-cash", of €1.1 billion landed on the desk of John Elkann, the head of Exor, to acquire the jewel of the Agnelli family: Juventus.
The buyer is not a Saudi sovereign fund, nor an American consortium. It is a technology company without official offices, led by an Italian fan of the Old Lady (Paolo Ardoino), and whose main product is a computer code: Tether.
If Exor immediately opposed a rejection ('Juventus is not for sale'), the details of the offer reveal a brutal economic paradigm shift.
Tether was not only proposing to buy back the 65.4% stake of Exor at €2.66 per share (a premium of 21% on the closing price). The company also committed to inject an additional billion euros out of pocket to wipe out debts and revive the club.
How can a crypto company align more than 2 billion euros of immediate liquidity, where century-old industries struggle to finance themselves?
David ate Goliath (and he is still hungry)
To understand, you have to look at the accounts. Juventus is a 'sleeping giant' that has accumulated nearly a billion euros in losses over the past eight years. Tether, on the other hand, has become a historic cash machine.
The official figures from the Q3 2025 attestation report are staggering:
Net profit (9 months 2025): Greater than 10 billion dollars.
American debt held: About 135 billion dollars.
Tether today holds more American debt than countries like Germany or Australia. They have effectively become a 'too big to ignore' private central bank. This attempted buyout was not a fan's whim, but a deliberate diversification strategy to anchor their digital wealth in the real world (sports, AI, commodities).
The secret to this fortune? YOUR purchasing power.
This is where the journalistic investigation meets your personal portfolio. The business model that allowed Tether to put 2 billion on the table is based on a mechanism of biblical simplicity: the 'Float'.
You exchange 100€ for 100 USDT to secure your cryptos.
Tether places your 100 "real" dollars in US Treasury Bonds (T-Bills).
These bonds currently yield about 4.5% to 5% per year.
Tether keeps 100% of these interests.
In summary: Tether uses the liquidity provided by its users to generate a colossal income, without giving anything back in return. You assume the counterparty risk, they pocket the yield. It is this differential that finances their offer on Juventus.
No longer be the voluntary 'Lender of Funds'
The Juventus/Tether affair is a revealing one. It proves that the stablecoin market is not a speculative bubble, but a financial infrastructure flooded with cash and real returns.
However, continuing to hold 'naked' stablecoins (or letting euros sit in the bank) means accepting to finance the ambitions of financial giants without receiving anything in return.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) was created to break this monopoly.
Within the Club 25%, we apply a simple rule: 'No capital without yield'. Thanks to audited and mature DeFi protocols, it is now possible to:
Recover this bond yield directly at the source.
Capture the exchange fees that banks usually keep.
Aim for returns of 15 to 25% per year on stablecoins.
Tether tried to acquire a football team with the interests of its users. You have the choice: continue to finance their next buyout, or start building your own 'war chest'
