Polymarket's World Cup Betting Attracts 60% Crypto Newcomers
Around 60% of individuals betting on World Cup outcomes through Polymarket were experiencing their first blockchain interaction, establishing the prediction platform as a gateway into cryptocurrency.
Approximately 60% of individuals who made their initial World Cup wagers through Polymarket had no prior experience with blockchain protocols, indicating that prediction markets are serving as a gateway into the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
This discovery stems from a 90-day research study conducted by Bitget Wallet, which was provided to Cointelegraph on Thursday and analyzed the onchain behavior of 857,000 active participants on Polymarket.
According to Bitget Wallet, these results indicate that certain users are entering the cryptocurrency space via prediction markets rather than starting their journey with token trading or decentralized finance protocols.
In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Alvin Kan, chief operating officer at Bitget Wallet, explained that previous cryptocurrency onboarding strategies primarily concentrated on making blockchain technology more accessible through streamlined wallets and enhanced user interfaces, though users still needed to grasp how cryptocurrency functioned before getting involved.
Prediction markets shifted that dynamic. Users show up because they have a view on something happening in the world.
Alvin Kan, COO at Bitget Wallet
The daily taker volume, representing contracts purchased or sold by traders completing existing orders, hit an all-time high of $713 million on Saturday, based on Dune data. This record was achieved more than a week following the World Cup's commencement on June 11.
World Cup contracts drive $3.1 billion in volume to Polymarket
Bernstein released a report on June 11 forecasting that the 2026 FIFA World Cup would produce over $3 billion in additional sports betting handle and somewhere between $5 billion and $10 billion in extra consumer prediction market volume. According to platform data, the World Cup winner contract by itself has accumulated more than $3.1 billion in trading volume on Polymarket.
Sports contracts were among the most significant drivers of prediction market activity throughout the past 30 days. Kalshi saw sports contracts generate $8.5 billion during this 30-day period, positioning them as the platform's top category. Meanwhile, Polymarket also placed sports in first position with over $4.9 billion in trading volume for the identical timeframe, based on Defirate data.
This explosion in sports-related trading activity has simultaneously increased regulatory scrutiny within the United States.
Kentucky filed lawsuits against five prediction market platforms on June 17, including Kalshi and Polymarket, charging them with running unlicensed sports betting operations. No fewer than 17 additional states have brought prediction market operators before the courts, drawing involvement from both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the White House.
Subsequently, the CFTC filed suit against eight states, contending that these states had encroached upon the federal regulator's exclusive jurisdiction over federally regulated event contracts.