The 2026 FIFA World Cup became one of the largest demonstrations to date of blockchain use outside traditional cryptocurrency trading. Prediction markets linked to the tournament recorded a volume of around $20 billion and involved over 400,000 cryptocurrency wallets. FIFA’s digital collectibles also performed well.
Article Contents – World Cup:
- $5.7 billion flowed through the markets during the World Cup itself
- What are prediction markets?
- People bet from almost all over the world
- Illegal activity accounted for less than one percent of wallets
- FIFA Collect traded digital items worth $24 million
- Identity verification significantly reduced risky transactions
- Blockchain no longer has to mean just bitcoin
The FIFA World Cup is no longer just a massive sporting and television event. This year’s tournament showed that blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies can also play an increasingly significant role at similar global events.
According to an analysis by Chainalysis, the trading volume on prediction markets linked to the 2026 World Cup reached approximately $20 billion. Nearly 400,000 cryptocurrency wallets participated in the blockchain prediction markets.
Alongside betting, interest in blockchain collectibles also grew. Digital collectibles worth approximately $24 million were traded through the FIFA Collect platform.
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$5.7 billion flowed through the markets during the World Cup itself
The total of $20 billion does not only include transactions made during individual matches. Chainalysis tracked World Cup-related activity since January 2026, several months before the tournament itself began.
During the five weeks when the World Cup was actually being played, the volume on blockchain prediction markets reached approximately $5.7 billion, according to Chainalysis data.
Even more striking is the football tournament’s share of the entire market. World Cup-related prediction markets represented approximately 63% of all volume on prediction markets tracked by Chainalysis during the tournament.
Moreover, activity increased significantly as the tournament progressed. Before it began, daily volumes hovered around $50 million, but shortly after the first matches, they jumped to approximately $250 million per day. The final itself between Spain and Argentina generated over $300 million.
What are prediction markets?
Prediction markets allow users to trade contracts tied to the outcome of a specific future event. As Chainalysis explains, instead of stocks, commodities, or cryptocurrencies, these markets trade expectations about the real world.
In the case of football, this could be, for example, whether a particular team will win a match, advance to the next phase of the tournament, or win the title. The contract price changes continuously based on the probability that market participants assign to a given outcome on the market.
However, during the World Cup, trading wasn’t limited to just match winners. Much more curious questions also emerged. One market, for example, dealt with whether Cristiano Ronaldo would burst into tears at the end of his last World Cup. This contract alone recorded a volume of around $49 million, according to Chainalysis.
Data from the company also revealed that 55% of participants ended up in profit. Of this group, 79% were people who already had prior experience with prediction markets.
People bet from almost all over the world
The World Cup also demonstrated the global character of blockchain prediction markets. Chainalysis recorded activity from all continents except Antarctica.
The largest geographically attributable volume came from the United States and China. They were followed by Canada, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
However, geographic data should be taken with some reservation. Chainalysis notes that accurately determining the country can be complicated, for example, in the case of users using VPNs, cryptocurrency mixers, or other privacy-enhancing tools.
In any case, hundreds of thousands of participating wallets show that prediction markets are no longer just a marginal part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Major sporting events can provide them with something crucial for blockchain adoption: a simple reason to start using it.
Users don’t have to primarily deal with bitcoin, decentralized finance, or how blockchain works. They may simply be interested in the outcome of their favorite team’s match.
Illegal activity accounted for less than one percent of wallets
The massive volume of blockchain betting also raises questions about money laundering, sanctions, and other forms of illegal cryptocurrency use.
However, according to Chainalysis’s transaction analysis, their role was relatively limited. Approximately 3,700 wallets, or less than one percent of all participants, had traceable links to illegal activities in the past.
Chainalysis also recorded at least $5.4 million that flowed to betting wallets directly from the Huobi/HTX exchange, which came under sanctions for suspected facilitation of Russian cryptocurrency flows.
Another approximately $2 million came from wallets linked to scams, over $800,000 was linked to stolen funds, and about $500,000 was attributed to certain OTC services.
However, the vast majority of volume was created by regular prediction market participants, according to Chainalysis.
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FIFA Collect traded digital items worth $24 million
Prediction markets were not the only blockchain phenomenon of this year’s World Cup.
A significant role was also played by the FIFA Collect platform, through which fans can purchase and trade digital collectibles associated with players, teams, and key moments of the tournament.
From May 2025 until the end of the World Cup, according to on-chain analysis by Chainalysis, the system’s key wallet received approximately $24 million in payments from collectors.
The digital items didn’t just serve a collectible function. They could also be linked to actual match tickets.
More than 100,000 fans obtained the opportunity to access World Cup tickets through FIFA Collect. Some digital assets, for example, provided the right to purchase a ticket later.
In this case, blockchain moved beyond just NFT speculation and gained direct application in accessing a physical sporting event.
Identity verification significantly reduced risky transactions
Chainalysis also tracked potential connections of wallets to fraud, theft, or sanctioned entities on FIFA Collect. Their representation was, according to the company, negligible.
One reason may be significantly stricter user verification. Chainalysis points out that FIFA Collect uses extensive KYC procedures, or customer identity verification.
People who wanted to gain access to tickets through digital assets had to prove their identity and the source of their funds. Profiles also underwent manual verification.
The combination of blockchain infrastructure and traditional identity verification mechanisms may be one of the paths that mass adoption of similar services will continue to follow.
Blockchain no longer has to mean just bitcoin
The results of the World Cup show how significantly the practical use of blockchain technologies is expanding.
For the average user, blockchain is still most often associated with bitcoin, ethereum, or speculation on cryptocurrency prices. However, the football tournament demonstrated other possible areas – from prediction markets through digital collecting to ticket distribution.
According to Chainalysis’ conclusions, similar global events may increasingly shift part of their economy directly onto the blockchain.
The difference between open prediction markets and the more controlled FIFA Collect platform simultaneously demonstrates the importance of compliance. Open blockchain systems can attract a huge number of people from around the world, but they may also be more accessible to risky users. Stricter identity verification, on the other hand, can significantly limit their presence.
The 2026 World Cup may thus be important for the blockchain sector for a different reason than the $20 billion itself.
It showed that hundreds of thousands of people can use blockchain for something they already know well and understand – such as football – instead of having their first contact with the technology be buying cryptocurrency. It is precisely this kind of use that may be one of the ways blockchain gradually reaches a much broader audience.
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