Brazil squeezed past Japan 2-1 with a late goal in the FIFA World Cup Round of 32 on June 29, 2026, in Houston. The dramatic finish mattered well beyond the pitch, because crypto prediction markets had over $2 billion in volume riding on this tournament’s outcomes.
Platforms like Polymarket had pegged Brazil’s pre-match win probability at roughly 50.5%, making this one of the tightest lines of the knockout stage.
The crypto infrastructure behind the World Cup
The 2026 edition features an expanded 48-team format, and with that expansion came a parallel scaling of the crypto ecosystem built around it.
Kraken became FIFA’s first Official Crypto Exchange Supporter on June 9, 2026, marking the first dedicated crypto partnership in World Cup history.
