Stablecoin issuer Tether is reportedly set to acquire a significant stake in Italian media company Be Water as it cements its presence in the European Union.
According to a report citing unnamed sources familiar with the decision, Tether plans to invest around €10 million ($10.8 million) into Be Water.
The move has not yet been confirmed by either Tether or Be Water at the time of publication.
Tether strengthens Italian footing
Be Water is a Milan-based media group that owns podcast production companies Chora Media and Will Media, as well as Be Water Film, which focuses on film production and distribution.
The company is known for producing narrative-driven content, including a podcast series in collaboration with Bloomberg titled “Quello che i soldi non dicono” (“What Money Doesn’t Say”).
While the exact motivation behind the deal is still unclear, the investment appears to be part of Tether’s ongoing push into Italy.
Earlier this year, Tether made headlines with its investment in Juventus Football Club, one of Italy’s most iconic sports brands.
The company acquired a minority stake as part of a broader plan to move beyond its core business of stablecoins and digital payments.
At the time, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the investment would be a “pioneer in merging new technologies, such as digital assets, AI, and biotech, with the well-established sports industry to drive change globally.”
European expansion challenges
Tether’s journey through the broader European market hasn’t been entirely smooth.
The company has faced mounting pressure from the EU’s new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.
A number of major exchanges, including Coinbase, Kraken, and Crypto.com, have pulled USDT from their platforms for European users.
As regulatory expectations tighten, Tether has yet to fully align with the bloc’s evolving compliance standards.
Expanding beyond crypto
Nevertheless, the recent developments follow a profitable year for Tether, with the company reporting $13 billion in profits for 2024.
With returns from holdings in US Treasuries, Bitcoin, and other assets, the stablecoin issuer has been channeling excess capital, reportedly over $7 billion as of January 2025, into strategic investments beyond crypto and global expansion plans.
One area of focus for the company has been the artificial intelligence sector.
Last month, CEO Ardoino teased previews of several new AI-based products that the firm was currently developing.
Among the projects in the pipeline are a local AI voice assistant, a translator, and a Bitcoin wallet agent, which will all be a part of Tether’s upcoming AI SDK platform.
According to Ardoino, these tools would be bundled into something called Tether Data, the firm’s in-house AI toolkit built on the Bare runtime.
In terms of its global expansion progress, Tether has secured regulatory approvals in several jurisdictions, including Thailand and El Salvador, since the start of 2025.
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