Thousands of Dutch football fans have descended on Kansas City ahead of the Netherlands’ group stage match against Tunisia on June 25, turning downtown into a sea of orange. The “Oranje Army” is organizing fan walks, parades, and the kind of coordinated revelry that makes World Cup host cities feel like temporary embassies.

What’s conspicuously absent from all of it: crypto.

From Crypto.com stadiums to radio silence

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was drowning in crypto branding. Crypto.com was an official FIFA sponsor. Algorand had a partnership deal. Fan token platforms like Socios were pushing team-specific tokens for dozens of national squads.

No crypto-related sponsorships or tokens have been linked to the Netherlands-Tunisia match or the broader fan activities surrounding it. Kansas City, which serves as the official base camp for the Dutch national team during the tournament, has seen massive economic activity from the influx of supporters. None of it appears to be flowing through digital asset channels.

Similar Dutch fan parades occurred in Dallas and Houston earlier in the World Cup, and none featured crypto tie-ins either.

The fan token hangover

Fan tokens were supposed to be crypto’s permanent bridge into mainstream sports. The pitch was simple: buy a token tied to your favorite team, vote on minor club decisions like jersey designs, and watch your holdings appreciate as the team performed well. Socios and Chiliz built an entire ecosystem around this premise.

Most fan tokens lost the majority of their value after the initial hype cycle. Teams pocketed partnership fees while fans were left holding digital assets with limited utility and declining prices. Regulatory scrutiny in Europe didn’t help either, with several jurisdictions questioning whether fan tokens constituted unregistered securities.

What this means for crypto in sports

FTX’s implosion was particularly damaging to the sports-crypto relationship. The exchange had naming rights to the Miami Heat’s arena, sponsorship deals with MLB, and partnerships with individual athletes. When it went bankrupt, it left a trail of embarrassment for every sports organization that had accepted its money.

After partnering with Algorand for the 2022 tournament, FIFA appears to have moved away from crypto partnerships for 2026.

For traders and stakeholders in sports-adjacent crypto projects like Chiliz, the World Cup without crypto sponsors should be read as a sentiment indicator. Until major sporting bodies feel comfortable re-engaging with digital asset companies, the ceiling for sports tokens remains constrained.