World Cup NFTs stumble as the game disrupts Curb Ardor

Upsets may make the 2022 World Cup memorable, but they hit hard on the values ​​of non-fungible and fan tokens, as the unexpected results spook supporters of some of the top seeds.

Despite the excitement of each game, fan tokens have borne the brunt of unexpected losses and upsets. The price and trading volume of these tokens have decreased since the start of the tournament.

Fan tokens, created in collaboration with official football associations and platforms such as Socios and BitCi, are built on engage-to-earn access models that allow users to participate in app games and trivia that give them extra access to the teams they support. Each team delimits how much power the fans have over decision-making, but the goal is largely to keep the crowd engaged and reward the most devoted.

Essentially, fan tokens are like loyalty or reward tokens, or donation levels, that give extra benefits to those who pay the most. The Argentine Football Association Fan Token, which was the first major national football team NFT, was the biggest pre-play winner. With a current market cap of over $11 million, the token’s price peaked at $8.40 in the days leading up to the World Cup, double its value from a month before the Cup ($4.40). The token’s price has since fallen to $2.74, even as the team makes it to the quarterfinals.

The Argentine token’s initial popularity may also be due in part to greater interest in cryptocurrencies and tokens in the South American nation. Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Italy are among other countries whose national football associations have created their own fan tokens, since Argentina’s debut last year. Fan tokens often vary in price according to team performance.

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After losing to Morocco in a surprise upset in Tuesday’s round of 16 match, Spain’s national team token has suffered the most, losing 55% of its value. It peaked in September at 80 cents, according to data from CoinMarketCap, after the team’s defeat to Portugal in the 2022/2023 European Cup, but has since fallen to 5 cents, according to CoinGecko.

Portugal’s fan token has also suffered under the team’s performance, despite the squad’s six goals against Switzerland to progress to the quarter-finals. The token peaked at $6.25 in the days leading up to the tournament, but has since fallen to $2.25

Pools of other types of football-related non-fungible tokens (NFTs), however, have resisted the price swings driven by game results. VisaV
collection, in partnership with Crypto.com, has raised $10,900 in traded volume, with over 2,471 pieces minted. Prices range from $10 to $1 million for works featuring teams such as England and Australia. The works, part of the Masters of Movement collection, are made from the tracked movements of players in a short soccer match in FIFA’s Fan Zone, an area allocated to participants of the World Cup. These activity maps then create unique images for each game which are then marked as NFT.

To date, over 13,000 fans have attended Visa’s pop-up in the FIFA Fan Zone. Contestants have the choice to either receive the images created from their match as digital files or stamp them as NFTs.

Unlike the record sales of digital tokens this year, many of which exceeded $1 million, these NFTs are selling for much less — $10 to $14 for one of Visa’s Masters of Movement lines. And they do it in fiat currencies, not crypto. The push comes largely from an attempt to bring the NFT and crypto ecosystem to a mass audience that may not be familiar with the technology.

“We’re bringing this kind of ecosystem to a much wider community through the FIFA World Cup,” said Andrea Fairchild, senior vice president of global sponsorships at Visa.

Some go beyond fiat payments and offer NFTs for free in an attempt to draw in the crypto-curious. A collection of 10,000 pieces by artist Bradley G. Munkowitz, known as GMUNK, in collaboration with Coca-ColaQUEUE
and Crypto.com raffles off NFTs after each match, requiring interested fans to simply register with an email address to be eligible for the drawing.

“The native crypto audience is definitely excited because for them it’s validation,” says Kalifowitz. But partner vendors unfamiliar with crypto, he adds, “see the space and they see the potential.”

Collectables have been part of the World Cup since its inception, with brands creating special edition jerseys, cups and the famous game sticker albums from collectables marketer Panini. In the weeks leading up to the tournament, a number of World Cup sponsors announced their foray into NFTs, creating collections of unique items recorded on a blockchain for an expected 5 billion viewers.

“It goes with the core of the World Cup, which is the memorabilia,” says Steven Kalifowitz, chief marketing officer at Crypto.com, of the company’s sponsorship. Crypto.com joined as the exclusive sponsor of the cryptocurrency trading platform for the 2022 World Cup in March and hosts a number of NFT collaborations.