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Lifting the trophy was the one thing that the largest teams, figures, and champions were all working towards. Qatar, hosted the 2022 World Cup, and invested about $220 billion to welcome 1.5 million guests worldwide.
Despite the inclusion of two legends making the occasion unique, the blockchain and web3 components also gave this event a special touch. Imagine treasures, online fandoms, interactive games, and, most notably, football fan tokens.
Fan tokens are digital assets that signify membership in a group, such as a supporter base of a sports team. Holders of tokens could show their support for a team while also receiving special benefits, such as tickets to games or even some degree of influence over how a sports organization makes decisions.
NFTs on the rise during the WorldCup
Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the game's icons, in a recent partnership with Binance, unveiled a collection of CR7 NFT collectibles that have been on the surge during the event. Not only was Ronaldo’s collection on the wave, but other sports fan tokens were also savoring a fresh surge of enthusiasm ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022, which began on 20th November amidst the despair and gloom of FTX-stricken crypto markets.
Notably, CHZ, the native token of the Chiliz blockchain, which powers the largest platform for creating sports fan tokens, Socios.com, had increased by 11%. Various crypto enthusiasts and analysts predicted that fan tokens belonging to Portugal and Argentina national soccer teams, both strong Cup contenders, "would be the cherries on top during the World Cup."
These revelations showed that sports fan tokens would outperform the overall cryptocurrency market, which was struggling due to Sam Bankman-crypto Fried's empire, which included FTX and prominent trading company Alameda, applying for bankruptcy protection. FTX had a significant presence in sports because it acquired stadium naming rights and sponsorship agreements.
Worldcup crypto-related scams
Global cybersecurity company Kaspersky had published a list of the top five frauds used during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Millions of football enthusiasts worldwide watched the World Cup in anticipation. Scammers took advantage of this crucial period and employed various strategies to capitalize on soccer fans' passion.
After its researchers examined phishing websites connected to the World Cup from across the world intended to steal users' financial and identification information, Kaspersky disclosed the top five frauds taking advantage of the World Cup in Qatar in a blog post.
Crypto and NFT fraud was the other type of World Cup-related fraud.
"The active proliferation of numerous crypto frauds, which primarily took advantage of the popularity of NFTs, had been a distinguishing aspect of the danger landscape on the eve of the 2022 World Cup," said Kaspersky.
Users were asked to wager on a game to win cryptocurrencies or NFTs in these frauds. They would ask consumers for their crypto wallet information for direct prize transfers.
"Fraudulent crypto investing is another scam. Fraudsters aggressively produce actual coins and lure investors in by promising the victim the possibility of currency growth. In practice, they are practically never successful, and people have paid money on undeveloped products" – stated the post.
Experts from Kaspersky cautioned users against being duped into submitting their credit card information by phishing pages that look like airline websites advertising tickets to Doha.
Should one have rushed?
It is highly recommended that new and amateur investors enter the cryptocurrency industry using Bitcoin ETFs if they have low-risk tolerance, don't want to buy cryptocurrency directly, or can't follow the markets often before involving themselves with other digital such as the recently famed football fan tokens.
This is essential as ETFs are a fantastic method for institutions and businesses to participate in blockchain activities when cryptocurrency policy is still unclear. Before rushing to invest in fan tokens, one should have fully grasped the minor concepts worth noting in the blockchain space to avoid losses, as some could be looking to support out of the fan tokens.
Will NFTs live up to the hype?
The notion is obvious. Although there is still a need for NFTs, can they live up to the hype? It cannot be denied that the NFT market has experienced severe losses in 2022. Despite this, since the start of the world cup, token fan values have significantly increased
Your legacy NFT collections, however, are less. According to statistics from DappRadar, Q3 2022 saw sales of $3.4 billion, down from $8.4 billion in the preceding quarter. In the year's first quarter, NFT sales volumes reached a peak of $12.5 billion.
This industry had been slowed down by dwindling traction, hacks, and uncertainty. However, the World Cup and the growth of Web3 was their turning point.
Argentina's World Cup victory parade fizzles with the players being evacuated, and the fan token sinks
Despite winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Argentina's fan token is in danger of crumbling.
On December 18, the day of the FIFA World Cup Final, the price of the Argentine Football Association Fan Token, which is made available through agreements with Socios, increased to $6.40 before dropping 58% to $2.67 on December 20.
Players were due to parade around the city today after arriving in Buenos Aires over night on December 20. The event was postponed as a consequence of the influx of millions of spectators who filled the streets and caused pandemonium. Players were helicoptered back to the soccer association's main office and then sent home.
An unexpected loss to Saudi Arabia earlier in the competition caused the Argentine fan token to drop by 23%. After Argentina qualified for the final, the token was selling for about $5. Before the game began, it cost $7.20.
Only Argentina and Portugal are international teams that provide fan tokens. As of December 20, Portugal's currency is fallen to roughly $1.20. After suffering an unexpected loss to Morocco in the quarterfinals, Cristiano Ronaldo's squad was eliminated.
According to the NFT data tracker CryptoSlam, football trading cards topped sales on the NFT-based game platform Sorare on December 18, bringing in more than $503,000 from 4,435 purchasers. But in contrast to fan tokens, Sorare sales increased 6.42% after Argentina's World Cup victory.