FIFA has named Kraken its Official Crypto Exchange Supporter for the 2026 World Cup, marking the first time a crypto exchange serves as an official tournament sponsor. The partnership gives Kraken a massive platform across 48 teams and 104 matches in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
Behind the scenes, FIFA migrated its FIFA Collect digital platform from Algorand to a custom Layer-1 blockchain built on Avalanche. The new FIFA Blockchain aims to lower fees and increase throughput for the tournament’s high transaction volume. It has already processed over $25 million in combined NFT and rights trading volume. FIFA has also issued more than 100,000 Right-to-Buy tickets as verifiable on-chain credentials-an anti-scalping mechanism that replaces vulnerable paper or PDF tickets.
Separately, the fan token ecosystem is heating up. Chiliz (CHZ), the blockchain behind the Socios platform, saw its token value rise 28% during the early stages of the World Cup, with national team fan tokens experiencing surging trading volumes.
For investors, the Kraken deal offers global brand exposure and a credibility boost at a time of intense exchange competition. For Avalanche, hosting FIFA’s Layer-1 serves as a high-stakes reference client-successful execution across 104 matches could attract enterprise clients. FIFA is also exploring prediction market partnerships and a potential native FIFA Coin, though neither is confirmed.