The FIFA World Cup began to move not only fans, but also the prediction markets linked to cryptocurrencies. With the start of the round of 16 on July 4, football took the lead among the most traded events on these platforms, reducing interest in contracts related to politics and the global economy, which had traditionally concentrated the highest volume of transactions.
Data released by CryptoRank show that the growth was significant throughout June. The volume traded on the main platforms went from US$ 65 million on June 1 to US$ 340 million just one week later, a few days before the start of the competition.
The pace accelerated quickly after the first matches. On June 15, when 15 games had already been played, including the United States' 4 to 1 victory over Paraguay, the total volume reached US$ 2,2 billion.
The trend continued in the following days. After 42 matches had been played, on June 22, trading reached the monthly peak of US$ 5,6 billion. In the following week, on June 29, activity remained high, totaling approximately US$ 5,4 billion.
In a post made on the X network on July 2, CryptoRank highlighted that Kalshi concentrated most of this activity. At the time of the release, the platform showed US$ 1,45 billion in open contracts, while Polymarket had about US$ 390 million, totaling US$ 1,84 billion in positions not yet settled.
During the last week of June, Kalshi kept its open contracts close to US$ 1 billion. Polymarket, meanwhile, reached its highest level on June 30, when it hit US$ 475 million, a date marked by the eliminations of Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands from the competition.
BitMart also reported significant growth in its prediction market. According to the exchange, centralized platforms continue to attract most users by offering a simpler experience, without the need to use private keys, pay gas fees, or carry out multiple contract approvals required in on-chain solutions.
With this movement, the company revealed that the monthly trading volume in its prediction market increased 1.500% since May, while the number of active users grew 4,6 times. The number of completed orders also increased almost nine times over the same period.
Another figure highlighted by the exchange shows that approximately 44% of new users made their first trade through prediction markets. Football appeared as the main gateway for these participants, who later began trading predictions related to cryptocurrency prices.