Every player on Mauricio Pochettino’s roster trained together for the first time on June 8, with 5,500 fans watching at the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Irvine, California. Three days before the opening match, the USMNT finally had a full-strength session.
The timing matters beyond the pitch. On June 9, FIFA announced that Kraken has been named the Official Crypto Exchange Supporter of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The tournament, which kicks off June 11 with an expanded 48-team format across the US, Canada, and Mexico, is now directly tethered to the crypto industry in a way no prior World Cup has been.
Crypto meets the world’s biggest stage
Kraken’s deal with FIFA is designed to activate fan engagement across North America and Europe. The partnership includes visibility around the opening match and a countdown concert at Crypto.com Arena.
FTX slapped its name on a Miami arena. Crypto.com bought naming rights in Los Angeles. Most of those deals were signed during the 2021-2022 euphoria, and several aged like milk left in the sun. Kraken’s FIFA partnership is different in one critical respect: the exchange is still standing, still operational, and signing deals in what feels like a more measured market cycle.
The fan token gap
One notable absence in all of this: the USMNT does not have a dedicated fan token. No blockchain-based engagement tool, no direct crypto sponsorship tied to its World Cup campaign.
Chiliz, the company behind the Socios platform that powers fan tokens for clubs like PSG, Barcelona, and Juventus, has built an entire ecosystem around this concept. Holders of club-specific tokens can vote on minor decisions, access exclusive content, and mostly speculate on price.
Chiliz-linked tokens tend to see heightened trading activity around major match days. The 2026 World Cup, with its expanded format and matches spread across three countries, creates more of these catalytic moments than any prior tournament.
Beyond established platforms like Chiliz, the broader crypto landscape around the World Cup includes a mix of licensed infrastructure plays and unlicensed meme coins. Solana-based national team tokens have begun appearing, riding the same speculative wave that produces a new dog-themed coin every 48 hours.
What this means for the crypto market
After the FTX collapse cratered trust in exchange sponsorships, there was a real question about whether mainstream sports organizations would touch the industry again. FIFA apparently decided the answer is yes.
The 48-team World Cup format means more games, more broadcasts, more sponsor mentions, and more potential catalysts for token volatility over a longer tournament window. The opening match on June 11 will be the first real test of whether this new wave of crypto-sports partnerships translates into measurable market activity.