What crypto traders really think about soccer
To coincide with the World Cup and our first Outcomes Market, The Beautiful Game, we commissioned OKX Insights #005: a survey of 2,000 soccer fans around the world who trade cryptocurrency. The results challenge assumptions about the crypto trader, the soccer fan, and the overlap between them.
Key takeaways include:
76% of fans would trade their team's World Cup trophy for 1 BTC.
When asked to choose between 1 BTC and seeing their favorite team lift the World Cup, nearly four in five respondents took the bitcoin. The 24% who chose the trophy aren't outliers — they're a reminder that for a quarter of fans, no price tag exists for that moment.
Soccer is the sport most associated with crypto.
56% of respondents associate soccer with cryptocurrency more than any other sport. That is nearly three times the share who named esports (20%), which most people would have guessed would top the list.
Most believe skills overlap for calling crypto and games.
84% said the instincts that make someone a good crypto trader, including pattern recognition, probabilistic thinking, and composure under pressure, overlap with calling soccer outcomes. The fans surveyed do not see a hard line between reading a market and reading a match.
Most fans think their outcome calls would outperform their portfolios.
Nearly half (45%) said their World Cup outcome calls would likely outperform their crypto trading calls over the same period. About a quarter (24%) said they'd be equally hit-or-miss, while 30% said their trading edge was stronger.
Elimination still hurts.
23% said seeing their team knocked out would upset them more than losing 20% of their portfolio. Contrarily, for roughly one in four fans, the emotional stakes of soccer still run deeper than financial loss.The crossover between sports fans and crypto users is not new, but it is maturing. The fans in this survey are not casual observers of either world. They follow crypto closely enough to trade it, and they follow soccer closely enough to have opinions about outcomes. That combination is the target audience for a different kind of product.The instinct to predict outcomes, to back a judgment with a stake, to track results in real time: these behaviors are native to both trading and sport. The data here suggests fans already feel that connection. What has been missing is infrastructure that brings them together without friction.
The Beautiful Game
We built The Beautiful Game for exactly this audience. It is a free-to-play Outcomes Market covering all 104 fixtures of the World Cup, built directly into the OKX app. No new platform. No separate account. No entry fee.Participants pick match winners, accumulate points through a daily check-in streak, match position commitments, friend referrals, and standard platform activity, and compete for a share of a total prize pool of up to 20 BTC.
The contest runs through July 20, 2026, and is open to eligible OKX app users in approved markets.The Beautiful Game runs on Exchange OS, our recently launched permissionless infrastructure layer for onchain trading, built as a major upgrade to X Layer, our EVM Layer 2. Exchange OS handles matching and settlement at the protocol layer, and will soon be available to any external builder looking to deploy their own spot, perpetuals, or prediction market exchange on X Layer without rebuilding the underlying infrastructure stack.To play, visit okx.com/en-us/learn/the-beautiful-game or open the OKX app.
The Beautiful Game is a free-to-play contest. In-contest positions and accumulated points carry no monetary value and are not transferable. Total rewards are subject to participant eligibility and full terms and conditions. No purchase or payment necessary to participate. Full terms and conditions available at okx.com/worldcup2026.
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Disclaimer
This content is provided for informational purposes only and may cover products that are not available in your region. It is not intended to provide (i) investment advice or an investment recommendation; (ii) an offer or solicitation to buy, sell, or hold crypto/digital assets, or (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. Crypto/digital asset holdings, including stablecoins, involve a high degree of risk and can fluctuate greatly. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding crypto/digital assets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition. Please consult your legal/tax/investment professional for questions about your specific circumstances. Information (including market data and statistical information, if any) appearing in this post is for general information purposes only. While all reasonable care has been taken in preparing this data and graphs, no responsibility or liability is accepted for any errors of fact or omission expressed herein.
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