FIFA is turning to blockchain for World Cup fan engagement — naming ADI Predictstreet its first official prediction market partner under a multi-year agreement that covers the 2026 tournament.
What’s coming
- ADI Predictstreet will bring prediction markets to FIFA’s global fan strategy for the expanded 48-team, 104-match World Cup across 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
- Fans will be able to forecast match results, tournament stats, breakout players and key moments — and the platform will host FIFA’s free-to-play bracket challenge.
- FIFA says the initiative is designed to deepen fan interaction and insight during the competition. “FIFA is committed to continually enhancing the fan experience and embracing innovation that brings supporters closer to the game,” President Gianni Infantino said.
Why this matters for crypto
- ADI Predictstreet is the first consumer-facing project built on ADI Chain, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network that targets the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. ADI Chain publicly announced the partnership on April 2, 2026, calling Predictstreet a way to reach the World Cup’s global audience.
- Unlike recent sports partnerships that used established prediction platforms such as Polymarket or Kalshi, FIFA has chosen a partner that has not yet publicly launched its platform — signaling a bet on ADI Chain’s infrastructure and ecosystem.
Regulation and integrity
- FIFA and ADI say Predictstreet will “operate in alignment with FIFA’s regulatory and integrity frameworks,” with real-time monitoring to flag suspicious trading activity.
- The move comes as prediction markets face scrutiny over risks like insider trading — concerns regulators and lawmakers are increasingly focused on — and as major platforms tighten controls to mitigate vulnerabilities.
Broader ambitions and market reaction
- ADI has said Predictstreet will expand beyond sports to cover other topics over time. ADI Foundation CEO Andrey Lazorenko framed the project as historic for scale and fan participation: “ADI Predictstreet gives fans a way to partake in the history of football at a scale nobody has done before — all powered by ADI Chain’s infrastructure.”
- The ADI token, which launched alongside the network mainnet last December, jumped to a new all-time high of $4.54 on Friday, according to CoinGecko — up about 12% over the past week.
Bottom line
FIFA’s move brings mainstream sports attention to a nascent blockchain prediction-market play. It presents an opportunity for fan engagement at unprecedented scale, but also reintroduces regulatory and integrity questions that the crypto and sports worlds will need to address as the platform rolls out ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
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