The FIFA World Cup could lead to a boost in global crypto adoption

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(Kitco News) – Sporting events are known to be excellent platforms for companies to advertise their services and gain exposure to a wide and diverse audience from all walks of life.

The World Cup is arguably the second biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympics, making it an ideal place for cryptocurrency companies to present their case to the global public in an effort to increase awareness and adoption.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to take place in Qatar from November 20 to December 18 and could be one of the most important events of the year in helping to launch crypto into the mainstream due to the high level of crypto-related sponsorships .

Earlier this year, cryptocurrency exchange platform Crypto.com was selected as one of the main sponsors of the event, which has the potential to expose the platform to a global audience of five billion users.

Crypto.com has been one of the most active companies in advertising to sports fans, with the firm running several ads during the Super Bowl and purchasing the naming rights to the multi-purpose arena in downtown Los Angeles formerly known as the Staple Center.

Now looking to take ads to a more global audience via the World Cup, the company is enlisting the help of payment processor Visa, which facilitates transactions for Crypto.com debit cards.

As part of the collaboration, Visa will auction five non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that feature notable goals from various countries in previous World Cups. The auction will remain open until Nov. 8, with all proceeds going to charity, according to Visa.

Fans in attendance will also have an opportunity to create their own NFTs during the World Cup by participating in four-minute six-on-six matches at the FIFA Fan Festival.

An interactive playing field will capture their movements and create unique GIFs that can be colored to match their favorite national team. Once generated, fans can choose to have the GIFs sent to them as NFTs via a Crypto.com account.

FIFA’s official blockchain sponsor

Another project well-positioned to benefit from exposure during the FIFA World Cup is Algorand, which was selected as the official blockchain partner of FIFA in May. In the original partnership announcement, FIFA praised Algorand as “founded by Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali” and a “green blockchain technology company.”

In a world of rising costs and environmental concerns, Algorand’s ability to offer high-speed and low-cost transactions while having a minimal environmental footprint is what attracted FIFA to the protocol.

As part of the partnership, Algorand will provide the official blockchain-backed wallet solution for FIFA and will also help the organization develop its digital asset strategy.

The opportunity this partnership presents to Algorand was not lost on Silvio Micali, who stated “This partnership with FIFA, the most globally recognized and prominent organization in sports, will showcase the potential of the Algorand blockchain to transform the way we all experience the world’s game. .”

Previous WC

Evidence that the upcoming World Cup could have an effect on the global adoption of cryptocurrencies can be found by looking at the uptick in adoption following the recent World Cup in Russia.

While extenuating circumstances have helped increase the level of adoption, including sanctions against Russia by the international community that have pushed its citizens into crypto as a solution, an upward trend was already present before 2022.

Meanwhile, data from Chainalysis shows that cryptocurrency adoption in the Middle East surpassed all other geographic regions in 2022, and the United Arab Emirates is now looking to establish itself as a global hub for cryptocurrencies.

After the high level of exposure that cryptocurrencies are going to get at the World Cup, there is a good chance that the adoption rate will continue to increase for the foreseeable future.

Thanks to the growing popularity of fan tokens – with cryptocurrency firm Chiliz (CHZ) partnering with some of the most famous football clubs in the world to issue their own exclusive tokens – the ways fans can engage has never been better thanks to blockchain technology.

And with the 2022 FIFA World Cup likely to be Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s last World Cup, at least as players in their prime, there are sure to be plenty of key moments that fans will want to commemorate as unique tradeable NFTs are sold and stored on the blockchain.

Evidence of such demand can be seen in the performance of fan tokens for Mesi and Ronaldo’s national teams, Argentina (ARG) and Portugal (POR), which have posted gains of nearly 50% over the past two weeks.