Tether’s Corporate Venture Arm: Sports & Consumer

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This week Tether made another significant corporate venture investment in Eight Sleep, the smart mattress business. 

The most profitable company on the planet, per employee, made a strategic investment in their $1.5bn financing round. 

But why?

Rumble, Juventus, and now Whop and Eight Sleep – why is Tether’s corporate venture strategy veering into consumer?

Stay with me on this one, as it’s a long piece, while I try to make sense of their strategy beyond payments and blockchain infrastructure. 

What is Tether and How Does It Make Money? 💰

Let’s start with Tether.

Tether is behind USDT, the largest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency market, with a market capitalisation exceeding $184 billion.

Stablecoins have become the first genuine example of product-market fit in crypto, with total supply reaching approximately $300 billion+, up from ~$220 billion year-on-year.

The value proposition is simple: digital dollars that settle instantly, 24/7, 365 days a year, and allow people in the global south to hedge inflation risk whilst enabling frictionless cross-border payments. Turns out, there is indeed demand for this.

The way Tether works in practice is straightforward. 

The company maintains reserves that back each USDT token with a corresponding value in traditional assets, acting as a proxy for the U.S. dollar.

According to their most recent transparency reports, the bulk of their reserves are held in U.S. Treasury bills.

Their business model is simple: Tether takes treasury bills and other U.S. dollar equivalents, issues USDT onchain, and earns interest. 

When interest rates are 3-5%, and you're holding $140+ billion in treasuries, it adds up. 

And the raw numbers speak for themselves. 

Tether announced that their 2024 net profits exceeded $13 billion, making it one of the most profitable companies in crypto and one of the most profitable companies on the planet per employee. 

In 2025, they reported over $10 billion in net profit, with $6.3 billion in excess reserves sitting on their balance sheet.

It has led people to call Tether the ‘Shadow Bank of the Global South’, with many questioning the reserves they hold. 

If you want to dig into this, I’d recommend reading Tether in 2025: A Capital Analysis by M0 CEO Luca Prosperi. 

He concludes that Tether should be viewed like an unregulated bank that actively invests liabilities into risky assets (Bitcoin, gold, loans). This requires holding capital buffers to absorb volatility.

Against minimal regulatory standards, Tether (~10.9% Total Capital Ratio in base case) passes, meeting the 8% Basel minimum.

Against market benchmarks, Tether falls short — would need ~$4.5B more capital to match G-SIBs' ~17-18% ratios.

So the answer to what seems a never-ending journey to find the true solvency and financial prudence of Tether is, as always, it’s complicated

With that being said, here’s what we know is true:

• USDT is unregulated 

• Tether have also launched USAT, their onshore US-based stablecoin, that is fully compliant, audited by Deloitte

• Tether have amassed unbelievable amounts of cash on their balance sheet

• We cannot truly know if everything is ‘accounted’ for until a big 4 firm conducts a full audit of USDT, but they are very likely solvent under minimum bank liquidity requirements 

Tether's Corporate Venture Arm 🏢

So now that we have the answer to how Tether have so much money, let’s talk about how they’re using it. 

Their sprawling corporate venture arm is fascinating, spanning 50 public investments, amongst a total of 140.

And their investment spree has ratcheted up in the past 12 months.

In late 2024, they made headlineswith a reported $750 million investment in Rumble, the video platform positioning itself as a YouTube alternative. It marked their first significant investment outside of finance and blockchain. 

In February 2025, Tether made a bid for a majority stake in Adecoagro, a $1 billion Latin American agriculture business. The bid was accepted in Sept 2025 by the board.

Tether also made a $1.3bn all-cash bid for Serie A giants Juventus in late 2025 too. 

But the most strategically revealing investments have come in 2026. 

Two of these, Whop and Eight Sleep, give us a hint that Tether are trying to craft a consumer penetration story, embedding stablecoins where systems touch as much economic activity and data as possible.

The first of these is Whop, an internet marketplace where creators sell subscriptions, communities, tools, and digital products across all categories. It's basically a Shopify for the creator economy. The strategic fit here is payments. Today, prohibitively high transaction costs push creators and internet businesses toward legacy business models: time-based subscriptions, bundling, and ad-supported services. Stablecoins running over blockchains enable frictionless, 24/7 global payments at smaller denominations, without FX risk for the global digital economy. 

The second is Eight Sleep — a sleep-tech company selling temperature-controlled mattress covers and health-tracking subscriptions. They were part of the recent $1.5bn round, and marked Tether’s first investment in ‘Healthtech’, and one of their many in AI as Eight Sleep aim to expand into “Predictive, AI-Driven Health”.

While there has been variety in Tether’s investments to date, it feels like 2026 so far has been directionally aimed towards consumer-facing companies. 

Indeed, it would be remiss not to mention the size of these investments, too. 

Whop was a $200m investment. 

Eight Sleep a $50m investment. 

Rumble was a $750m investment, and the offer to the Agnelli group for Juventus was $1.3bn. 

There is a shift, perhaps not tectonic, but noticeable that Tether are looking at the consumer layer seriously. 

Sports — Juventus ⚫️⚪️

Let’s get to the good stuff. 

Tether's interest in Juventus dates back to March 2025 - here’s a quick summary to get you up to speed if you’re not aware of the context: 

• March 2025: Tether reportedly acquired more than 5% of Juventus, notifying Italian market regulator Consob after crossing the regulatory threshold of Juventus' voting rights. With Juventus' market capitalisation at approximately €1.2 billion, a 5% stake is worth roughly €60 million. The Agnelli family's holding company Exor, which controls 64% of Juventus (and also owns Ferrari), did not sell any shares to Tether and consistently denied any plans to sell the club.

• April 2025: Tether acquired additional shares, bringing its total participation to over 10.12% of issued share capital, representing 6.18% of voting rights. The initial share acquisition was clarified to be worth 8.2% rather than the ~5% initially reported.

• June 2025: Tether began using the press to pressure Exor to give them a board seat. By this point, they held a 10.7% stake in Juventus worth approximately €128 million ($149 million), making them the second-largest shareholder behind Exor.

• December 2025: Tether finally made their big move, submitting a binding, all-cash proposal to acquire Exor's controlling stake in Juventus FC. The offer, priced at €2.66 per share, valued the Italian giants at approximately €1.1 billion ($1.3 billion). This represented a 21% premium on the closing share price of €2.19 before the announcement. Additionally, Tether pledged a further €1 billion in direct investment for club development. The door was slammed shut within 24 hours. Exor CEO John Elkann's statement was unequivocal: "Juventus, our history and our values are not for sale."

Why Juventus? Is a question quickly answered by looking at Tether’s executives, where they come from and who they support. 

But the bigger picture questions remain:

1. Is Juventus a good asset to buy?

2. Will the Agnelli family ever sell?

3. How does it fit into their consumer-facing investment strategy so far this year?

Is Juventus a good asset to buy?

Juventus is one of the most successful and storied football clubs globally, having won 36 Serie A titles. The financial picture is less impressive, though.

In the 2023-24 Season, Juventus posted a net loss of nearly €199 million. This was particularly brutal because the club did not participate in the Champions League.

In the 2024-25 season, with a return to European competition, the club's financial position improved substantially. Juventus announced a total financial loss of €58.1 million, a massive improvement, but still a loss.

Revenue for the year reached €529 million, driven by Champions League participation, broadcast deals, and commercial partnerships. But net financial debt rose to €280.2 million, compared to €242.8 million the previous year, and continued climbing to €299 million by December 2025, primarily attributed to transfer campaign expenses.

The club have not turned a net profit since 2017. Over the past six years, shareholders (primarily Exor) have raised around €900 million in fresh capital to keep the club operational and competitive.

Of course, this is not unusual for a football club. Deloitte's Money League consistently shows that even the biggest clubs in the world operate on thin margins or losses, particularly those outside the Premier League's extraordinary broadcast revenue distribution.

Indeed as per Deloitte’s 2026 money league, Juventus sit 16th in global revenues in football. 

However, the same source shows that since 2020, Juventus are stagnating, or growing at an inferior rate to competitors.

Their controllable revenues (matchday and commercial) are roughly at parity with 2020 levels. This is a stark difference to AC Milan and Internazionale, two other Italian football juggernauts, who have both seen huge growth since 2020 in controllable revenues.

Of Deloitte's Money League top 20, only Chelsea and Barcelona have failed to see substantial revenue growth since 2020. Juventus are amongst the outliers in Europe's elite when it comes to financial health, to add to this, they are in the midst of their most unsuccessful period on the pitch since the 1970s, and Exor has been financially supporting the club from their own pockets to cover losses since Covid. 

Despite the losses, Juventus own valuable assets. 

The club's debt is now lower than the market value of the Allianz Stadium, which they own, unlike many Italian teams — complemented by ownership of the club's headquarters and two training centres.

Juventus is asset-rich and cash-poor, which, for a cash-rich owner, could be appealing. 

Tether's €1.3 billion bid is mixed when held against other recent transactions:

• Atletico Madrid: Apollo Asset Management’s investment (Q4 2025) valued the club at $2.6 billion

• Manchester United: Jim Ratcliffe's minority investment (2024) valued the club at around $6.5 billion

• Chelsea: Sold to Boehly-Clearlake consortium for $5.3 billion (2022)

• AC Milan: Sold to RedBird Capital for $1.3 billion (2022)

And yet, even in their financial situation, the Agnelli family are reticent to sell the crown jewel of their portfolio.

Will Agnelli ever Sell?

To the outside world, they are steadfast in their position; Juventus will not be sold.

But by the same gaze, it also looks like they are restructuring. 

In recent months, Exor has been actively divesting and reorganising assets:

• Ferrari: Exor recently sold $3.2 billion worth of their Ferrari stake for M&A purposes, whilst remaining the automotive brand's largest shareholder and controlling the largest voting block. The timing is fascinating. It's touted as M&A money — but if Ferrari isn't off the table for partial divestment, why is Juventus categorically not for sale?

• Auto parts stripped: Subsidiaries of their car business, such as Magneti Marelli (auto parts company) and Iveco (bus and truck maker) were sold recently.

• Media: Exor-owned Gedi, a media business which owns assets such as La Repubblica, was stripped and sold to Greek group Antenna.

• Amsterdam relocation: Three years ago, Exor delisted from the Milan stock exchange and relocated to Amsterdam. 

On the one hand, this could position Agnelli to inject further cash into Juventus.

On the other hand, it could be yet another piece of their portfolio recalibration. 

There is an emotional connection here that you cannot price. 

But emotions don’t pay the bills, and at some point, Exor will have to ask how long they want to foot the bill for Juventus? The revenues, considering their assets, are not impressive, nor growing. 

Tether can afford to wait. 

They don't have LP timelines. 

They don't have quarterly earnings calls. 

If it takes three years to get a board seat or five years to iget a majority stake, they have the staying power. Do the Agnelli family, is the question?

They also do not necessarily require Juventus to become a more valuable or cash-generating asset. Because for Tether, this is about legitimacy, brand and consumer reach. The Agnelli fanmily on the other hand, need Juventus to stop bleeding, and ideally make enough money to pay back the money they have invested in the business.  

Consumer Investments

Beyond emotional attachment, why would Tether want Juventus?

To assess that, we have to look at Tether’s broader bet on consumer, which has come to the fore in 2026. 

Their Eight Sleep investment is the first we can interrogate. 

In the era of AI, companies are beginning to look at what is defensible. 

And to some extent, what was defensible before AI is still defensible today – but perhaps amplified by the nature of technology’s exponential growth. 

With Eight Sleep, Tether have invested in a business that has some of the most valuable proprietary data on the planet. No LLM is trained on the sleep of 100s of thousands of customers. Vibe coders cannot build hardware. AI Agents cannot convince you to buy a mattress for thousands of dollars.

They have also bought into a brand who have affluent customers.

Compare this to Tether’s broader user base, which is primarily in the global south.

Tether want and crave legitimacy in the west.

They want to be connected to the brands that can help them build the narrative shift from ‘Shadow Bank of the South’ to ‘Global Bank of the Internet’. 

That’s hard and takes time. 

But when you have the cash they have on their balance sheet, you can buy shortcuts. 

This leads us to another interesting investment. 

In December 2025, Tether invested in QVAC, an AI company building agentic reasoning models designed to power autonomous decision-making. 

Agents capable of interpreting context, making purchasing decisions, and executing transactions on behalf of users.

With Eight Sleep, Sleep and biometric data streams help predict when a person is tired, stressed, training, sick, or travelling. 

These states drive tremendous spending decisions: food, supplements, medical appointments, fitness subscriptions, and recovery products. 

If you believe in a world where AI agents start to intermediate daily purchasing decisions, powered by internet native money, then owning pieces of the data layer (Eightsleep, wearables) and the AI reasoning layer (QVAC) starts to make sense. 

Eightsleep becomes a premium data source. QVAC provides the agentic intelligence. Stablecoins become the payment rails. 

It’s overly simplified, but there is reasoning behind their investment strategy. 

Broadly speaking, Tether are trying to skate to where the puck is going as it pertains to AI, whilst investing in hard assets that will weather the storm that AI continues to brew across every industry.

And perhaps the most defensible of all asset categories is Sport. 

As Dan Romero puts it: “I'm long [on] a permanent, significant increase in demand for meatspace proof-of-work and other AI-proof experiences – live sports, both watching and playing”

Sports is pretty much AI proof. Not in terms of the business model or the operations, but the core concept. Of coursea at the edges AI can improve the way a sports team is run – but the core concept of sport is not going anywhere because of AI. 

If we break down the defensibility, this is what we get:

1. A constant audience [Distrbiution] 

2. An audience that increases with familial links and geography 

3. A business model that whilst under turmoil because of waning broadcast interes, still has fundamental pillars that investors can wrap their arms around 

How many other businesses can say that they have buyers every 25 years that are buyers of their product/service just because their mother or father was?

Not many. That’s where sports is unique. 

And for Tether again, they are tapping into the brand equity that Juventus have as a top 20 football brand. They are buying into Juventus for the same reason that Crypto[dot]com sponsored the World Cup. It’s eyeballs, attention, legitimacy – and for Tether, it’s in the world where they seek it most – the western world. 

The question isn’t whether Tether will continue to invest in sports and consumer. It’s how much will they invest?

The answer is a lot – because they want to ensure that the Tether brand has distribution touchpoints across the entire consumer stack

Derek Edws' analysis of Tether's investment strategy hits the nail on the head

[Also H/T to Derek because I used a lot of his framing in this essay!]

This is about embedding stablecoins where systems touch as much economic activity and data as possible.

LayerZero gives them infrastructure. Whop and Rumble gives them creator commerce. QVAC Health and Eight Sleep gives them personal health data.

Sports give them something else: cultural relevance and consumer habit formation.

Football clubs, Formula 1 teams, basketball franchises, these are emotional anchors for hundreds of millions of people. They drive merchandise purchases, travel bookings, hospitality spending, betting activity, and media subscriptions.

If Tether can integrate stablecoins into the payment stack of a major sports property, it will include matchday concessions, ticket sales, or loyalty rewards; they gain exposure to habitual, high-frequency, emotionally-driven consumer spending.

What Comes Next

I believe Tether will continue to invest in consumer-based businesses at the $1-2bn value mark, to try and test their payments stack within them, alongside other products, which they will no doubt expand with larger businesses in the future when they have successful test cases.

For example, Rumble and Tether launched Rumble wallet, a non-custodial crypto wallet integrated directly into the Rumble platform. At launch, the wallet supports Tether (USDT), Tether Gold (XAUt), and Bitcoin (BTC), enabling audiences to tip creators natively in crypto.

With QVAC, they launched QVAC health, a privacy-oriented health and wellness application built on the company’s AI development platform.

And whilst integrating things like this into digitally native businesses is a lot easier, the long-term effects of doing so in more traditional businesses like sports could be massive for Tether down the line. Finding product market fit will need to happen (where exactly stablecoins and blockchain fit within a payments and tech stack) but it’s no doubt where their investment thesis is. 

1. Find AI defensible businesses, or forward looking AI native businesses 

2. Deploy capital either strategically or as an operating partner 

3. Integrate technology 

4. Leverage company brands and their legitimacy 

5. Compound growth from an asset perspective 

6. Compound growth for Tether by being integrated all the way down to the consumer 

My feeling is that Juventus, Rumble, Whop and Eight Sleep are simply the beginning of Juventus’ jostling for position to be embedded into consumer-facing businesses that they deem defensible to AI.

Just the start.

More Sports & Web3 Stories

• Signing Day Sports schedules March 13 stockholder vote on BlockchAIn merger (Read more here)

• From WSJ: Kalshi & Polymarket eye $20bn valuations (Read more here)

• Sixers and 76ers launch Heart and Hustle collection (Read more here)

General ‘Stuff’ that Could Impact You

• Nasdaq and Kraken are teaming up to let you trade tokenized stocks (Read more here)

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