Juventus Football Club shares surged following news that stablecoin issuer Tether made—and was rebuffed on—a €1.1 billion takeover bid, while the club’s fan token experienced a steep pullback.

Juventus’ fan token (JUV) fell more than 13% from its intraday high after Tether’s €1.1 billion ($1.3 billion) all-cash offer was rejected. The token had climbed above $0.85, its highest level since early November, around 21:00 UTC on Sunday, before sliding to below $0.74 by Monday morning in Europe, according to CoinGecko data.

The token’s decline contrasted sharply with a strong rally in Juventus’ publicly listed shares, which rose just over 14% to €2.50 on Monday following reports of Tether’s proposal and its rejection by controlling shareholder Exor.

Tether’s bid, offered on Friday at a 21% premium and valuing Juventus at €1.1 billion, represents one of the largest crypto-backed moves into professional sports to date. Tether is the issuer of USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization.

Crypto exchanges increased sports sponsorship spending to $568 million for the 2024–2025 season, a 20% year-over-year rise, according to sports marketing firm SportQuake, with soccer accounting for nearly 60% of new deals.

Tether, already Juventus’ second-largest shareholder with an 11.53% stake, sought to acquire Exor’s 65.4% holding at €2.66 per share, per a letter to Exor seen by Bloomberg. Exor, the Agnelli family-controlled holding company, which also owns automaker Stellantis, stated on Saturday that it “has no intention of selling any of its shares in Juventus to a third party, including but not limited to El Salvador-based Tether.”