FIFA's official "FIFA Collect" platform processed $24 million in digital collectible trades and enabled ticket access for over 100,000 fans, demonstrating a sanctioned on-chain use case alongside the decentralized betting markets.
With Polymarket valued at $15 billion in April funding talks and Kalshi reportedly targeting a $40 billion valuation, the tournament validated prediction markets as a mainstream crypto application — but the post-tournament volume cliff and unresolved regulatory status across major jurisdictions leave the sector's trajectory an open question: Can prediction markets sustain their record-breaking momentum without the World Cup's catalyst and amid intensifying regulatory scrutiny?
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