The 2026 FIFA World Cup knockout stage kicks off on July 5 with one of the tournament’s most anticipated matchups: Brazil vs. Norway at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. And while football purists are busy debating whether Vinícius Júnior or Erling Haaland will steal the show, the crypto industry is quietly having its own moment.

From prediction markets on Polymarket to fan token trading and crypto-native sportsbooks accepting Bitcoin wagers, this World Cup cycle has become the clearest signal yet that blockchain infrastructure is weaving itself into the fabric of global sports.

Crypto’s growing footprint in the beautiful game

Kraken was named FIFA’s Official Crypto Exchange Supporter in June 2026, a partnership that places a major centralized exchange at the center of the world’s most-watched sporting event.

The deal builds on FIFA’s previous blockchain experiments, most notably its collaboration with Algorand to issue NFTs during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Platforms like Polymarket and Coinbase are hosting markets covering match outcomes for the knockout rounds, with the Brazil-Norway clash drawing notable engagement. These platforms allow users to bet on specific results using crypto assets.

Crypto sportsbooks, including Cloudbet and BetFury, are also facilitating wagers in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins. The knockout stage historically generates a spike in betting volumes, and this tournament, the first to feature 48 teams, offers more matches than any prior World Cup.

Fan tokens and the BFT trade

The Brazil National Football Team Fan Token, known as BFT, is actively traded and currently hovering around $0.003. Fan tokens tend to see volume spikes around major tournament moments, and these tokens typically grant holders access to polls, exclusive content, and engagement opportunities with the team.

What this means for investors

For traders, the immediate opportunities are concentrated in prediction markets and fan tokens. Both carry meaningful risk. Prediction markets are zero-sum by nature, and fan tokens have historically shown poor long-term price performance outside of event-driven spikes.

The 2026 World Cup is being hosted across three countries, the US, Mexico, and Canada, for the first time. That geographic spread, combined with the expanded 48-team format, creates a longer tournament window and more surface area for crypto engagement.

Regulatory scrutiny around crypto gambling varies significantly across jurisdictions, and US regulators have shown increasing interest in how prediction markets operate. Polymarket, for instance, has previously navigated regulatory challenges around its US operations.