60% of World Cup bettors on Polymarket were first-time crypto user

[nikola22]

I think one thing or the other brought us into knowing about bitcoin and it's similar to the case only that the subject of relativity may be different from ours. The cryptocurrency market has become to big to ignore and with various financial institutions adopting it into their platforms for payment gateway option that's how many new people are made to use it for the first time and then sticking with using it after discovering the solutions it offers.

cryptocurrency has become more convenient to use so it's becoming more widely adopted. furthermore, crypto transaction fees are much lower than card withdrawal fees. for example, I've seen bookmakers charge card withdrawal fees of $2, $5 or more while cryptocurrency withdrawal fees can be as low as few cents. cards can also be blocked if the bank doesn't like something but a self-custodial wallet can't be blocked. therefore, I encourage using of cryptocurrency everywhere, including on gambling sites.

[Dogedegen]

How can this be a reliable statistic? I wonder how they conducted that analysis? There maybe many reasons why they appear to be first time crypto bettors, but taking one wallet service provider and conclude from there how many are first time crypto bettors, I don't know. Sounds slightly insufficient to me. 

However, I can imagine that events like the World Cup have a certain impact on people and whether they are willing to gamble and use their crypto for that. It would be interesting to see where the bettors are from, which countries are mostly affected and whether taxation is a thing there. I am sure that Polymarket is a good option to get away from tax obligations. But it depends on the country as I said as not all countries charge taxes on gambling profits.

Another reason could be that bettors don't want to go through the hassle of getting KYCed and of course polymarket is a super quick option to place bets without having to share any personal data whatsoever.

Yeah I questioned the validity of their data, their analysis and their conclusion in my first reply to this thread. They simply are not able to correctly make the conclusion that they have made based on the data that they are using, so this is at best a biased article or marketing stunt. Unfortunately we see a lot of misinformation these days and many people believe that they can just do whatever and make some claims and conclusions. The scientific method is clear, there are different methodologies that could be applied to investigate a topic like this and they have to be done in a rigorous way if we want to get to the truth.

If you must know, polymarket are serious doing marketing just to make sure they have lot of people gambling on their site. However, to avoid addiction it's possible to always set out time you could be use for gambling.

Coming from bitgets its probably a marketing technique to get more eyes on Polymarket and as well their wallet as a way of funding their account. The stats is quite very high, it should comprise of both non and active crypto users to be more meaningful.

This is more probably more likely but we should not tolerate things like this because even if it is done for the sake of marketing the data is false. As a society we have let a lot of different things go wrong with stuff like that, and each time we let some marketing lies slide we encourage others to do the same. Sometimes they try to defend themselves with a technicality, but if you do it in a biased and targeted way you can collect data so that you reach any conclusion that you want. That is not an excuse, it is fraud science and should be scrutinized!

[taufik123]

Everyone from the business side is going crazy about prediction markets, although I personally do not find them highly appealing. I do not know how large the demand really is for these things, we do not have good data for this yet and a lot of it is hype. The truth will be shown only after we let some time pass and see how many users are actually retained and how many were just passing by because something was trendy. That everyone is pursuing these things is the reason why I do not like when people try to single out Polymarket as a bad guy in any case, that seems very unfair and biased against a single company. I've read that even Facebook is pursuing prediction markets right now.

Even today, the platform has a predictive market, although it differs in how it uses it, but the main goal is the same.
Polymarket as the first successful party to the prediction market became a bad example when many were opposed.

but then other platforms started using Polymarket as the main reference for the prediction market.
This is only a transition so Polymarket cannot be blamed for anything because this depends on the decision of each player.

Exchanges, social media, etc all display prediction markets, and this is the right moment because World Cup Exposure is high,
so it will be faster to get the number of users and viewers on the utilization of the prediction market for each match.

[tread93]

This is according to 90-day Bitget Wallet study shared with Cointelegraph on Thursday that tracked the onchain activity of 857,000 active Polymarket users.

You can read more about it on https://cointelegraph.com/news/polymarket-first-crypto-touchpoint-world-cup-bettors

It means 60% of people that bet on world cup matches on Polymarket have not bet with cryptocurrencies before until they bet on Polymarket this time during world cup.

What do you think about this? More people are knowing bitcoin and other coins which can be helpful for the next bitcoin bull run? What is your take on this?

I mean I think that its great, and crypto needs the adoption and attention right now with this bottom coming in. If they play it right and actually buy some bitcoin right now I think that they should end up doing very well by the end of the year, if they can hold on until then, its hard for most people to hold on most people will sell it. Great post!

[lovesmayfamilis]

Probably, many players are already familiar with cryptocurrencies in one way or another, since we see and hear about them in huge numbers, but people who want to use cryptocurrencies in practice will naturally find use for them when betting. First of all, it is very convenient, and therefore I would like to think that popularization of such ways of using cryptocurrencies and payments will allow us to attract even more people, which should have a positive impact and allow us to diversify their other uses in life.

[viljy]

This can be seen as a significant contribution of prediction markets to the popularization and spread of cryptocurrency payments. Since the prediction market is integrated into the wallet itself, the statistics are likely to be accurate.

However, one of the drawbacks of the prediction market in Bitget Wallet is that access to the prediction market is blocked in almost half of the world's countries for various reasons. While this is a minor issue, the requirement for user identification in a decentralized prediction market within a non-custodial wallet is at least puzzling. This is despite the fact that the original Polymarket allows for anonymous use.

[leea-1334]

Well,,, those people who buy their crypto with credit card and then it creates a wallet for them on Polymarket,,, can we really call them crypto users? It was their credit card that they used And these wallets are all belonging to Polymarket right? Is that really a crypto user?

Directly it cannot be said to be a crypto user because they themselves do not understand how the payment process happens.
Crypto users are aware of how crypto transactions are conducted and the use of credit cards that may be related to crypto, it cannot be said that crypto users can indirectly.

Beginner crypto users will have their own crypto wallet even though in the polymarket a wallet will be created automatically,
then deposits can be made using the crypto wallet that has been provided and if that is the case then it can be said as a crypto user.

You do not have to understand how payment process happens. How many people in this forum use Bitcoin without truly understanding how a transaction is verified and entered into blocks?

I am not asking everyone to understand hashing just that the basis is you own your coins and sign them to transact. If I sign up for a service and it creates something for me I do not use,,, or do not even own,,, I do not think this counts.

[Porfirii]

-snip-

What do you think about this? More people are knowing bitcoin and other coins which can be helpful for the next bitcoin bull run? What is your take on this?

If it weren't for the fact that this seems to be the result of the research data, I would have said that 60% is too exaggerated a percentage. And not because I don't believe that prediction markets open the door to a lot of new users of a different nature compared to traditional cryptocurrency ones, but because if we pay attention to other recent research on the number of people who know or have ever used cryptos, it seems that there are already a lot! (as of 2026, about 30% of American adults are supposed to own cryptocurrency according to several sources).

[jcojci]

I don't think much about that and will be up to them. No one asks them to gamble and bet on Polymarket or request them to learn crypto first before gamble. They can starts anytime they want after buying crypto and sending it into their account.

Maybe they don't think about help Bitcoin for the next Bitcoin bull run but only think about placing their bet on Polymarket and we don't know what their reason are using crypto to bet.

But if they want to learns more about Bitcoin and knowing that Bitcoin is good for the investment, maybe they will moves from gambling into investment. So they do not want to make money from gambling but also from Bitcoin investment.

[Agbe]

What do you think about this? More people are knowing bitcoin and other coins which can be helpful for the next bitcoin bull run? What is your take on this?

That means Polymarket has brought a lot of people to know cryptocurrency from the world cup and when the Club-side matches (season) will start, more will come and the next bull will be booming and early investors will be smiling in that period. It is a good development because the more people know and use it, the more value it becomes. Because cryptocurrency price increase when the demand is high. And as more people are coming in, the demand will be increasin.

[pawel7777]

The truth is that they are using crypto for the betting purpose. They have no intention to hold it for long term. (...)

And why would they?
Are people forgetting that crypto is meant to be used? Otherwise we could replace all blockchains with spreadsheet held by Blackock and alike.
Not to mention that long-term holding of some types of cryptos, like stablecoins for example, is a horrible idea.

[Accardo]

This is more probably more likely but we should not tolerate things like this because even if it is done for the sake of marketing the data is false. As a society we have let a lot of different things go wrong with stuff like that, and each time we let some marketing lies slide we encourage others to do the same. Sometimes they try to defend themselves with a technicality, but if you do it in a biased and targeted way you can collect data so that you reach any conclusion that you want. That is not an excuse, it is fraud science and should be scrutinized!

This information was shared by top exchanges including Binance these admins could be looking to lure a target audience into cryptocurrency, using the world cup as a ploy to directly prove how easy it is to use crypto for payments, then tagged Polymarket which is a big trend alongside the world cup event to drag attention for their purpose. It's not really a bad idea, the problem here is that making up data for this purpose could backfire, or damage trust.

[Zlantann]

If it weren't for the fact that this seems to be the result of the research data, I would have said that 60% is too exaggerated a percentage. And not because I don't believe that prediction markets open the door to a lot of new users of a different nature compared to traditional cryptocurrency ones, but because if we pay attention to other recent research on the number of people who know or have ever used cryptos, it seems that there are already a lot! (as of 2026, about 30% of American adults are supposed to own cryptocurrency according to several sources).

The US elections made prediction markets popular. Elections in the US usually attract the attention of the world, and Polymarket used that medium to become well-known. Maybe users who used the platform during the US elections continued with the platform and are now active in the World Cup redcictions. Polymarket is also spending so much on advertising, which might also be a factor that has attracted first-time gamblers to their platform. My point is that the figures might not be far from the truth.

[tabas]

What do you think about this? More people are knowing bitcoin and other coins which can be helpful for the next bitcoin bull run? What is your take on this?

I think so. But we're still far from that time for the next bull run. If it's on the right period that we're also in the bull run and the world cup happens, that will massively add to the demand of it. But because we're currently in the bear market, that doesn't add that much. Well, I haven't used polymarket and I think many of us here haven't so. These first time crypto users probably just bought crypto to bet for the world cup and support their respective teams and countries. Hopefully whoever made these case studies will continue to do it once the world cup ends.

[Finestream]

What do you think about this? More people are knowing bitcoin and other coins which can be helpful for the next bitcoin bull run? What is your take on this?

I think so. But we're still far from that time for the next bull run. If it's on the right period that we're also in the bull run and the world cup happens, that will massively add to the demand of it. But because we're currently in the bear market, that doesn't add that much. Well, I haven't used polymarket and I think many of us here haven't so. These first time crypto users probably just bought crypto to bet for the world cup and support their respective teams and countries. Hopefully whoever made these case studies will continue to do it once the world cup ends.

We are just talking about gambling here, so let us not assume that it will result in a bull run.

I believe not even 50% of gamblers are investors. Many of them use crypto only for gambling purposes, so they can still use it regardless of the market situation because they are after convenience, not its future value. And they are not even just using Bitcoin in gambling, they also use stablecoins. Those who probably bet bigger are using stablecoins to protect themselves from volatility.

[Smartprofit]

As far as I know, the Polymarket platform accepts bets not in BTC, LTC, ETH, or XMR, but in the centralized stablecoin USDC. This is certainly much better than betting in fiat currency, but the connection between stablecoins and real cryptocurrency is indirect rather than direct.

How many of these 857,000 people will buy Bitcoin? And how many of them will buy Monero in the future? I don't know... I don't have a definitive answer to this question.

Certainly, using stablecoins is a very important step toward exiting the fiat system. But to fully immerse yourself in the world of cryptocurrency, in my opinion, you need to take another step (for example, buying Bitcoin). And then another step... And another...

The World Cup is, after all, a seasonal event.  Players will place bets in USDC, win or lose, and then... (will they stop being interested in cryptocurrencies until the next World Cup? Will they decide they need to learn more about the world of cryptocurrencies?) I don't have an answer to these questions!

In general, a cryptocurrency bull market seems like a distant prospect right now... It's not entirely clear what exactly will drive it. But in any case, it's great that people are interested in decentralized prediction markets and cryptocurrencies. The more people interested in these things, the faster the bull market will arrive! 💁

[knuckey]

What I'm judging from your thread is that the crypto industry is indirectly growing tremendously, even though the gateway is gambling. Since casinos are open to the public, I think this is natural, and we, as crypto enthusiasts, should welcome this. Crypto has always had a path to the top. Currently, casinos and gambling are the gateways for crypto's growth. I'm sure most of these new players are fans of football clubs or other sports who join here.

[henmark]

This is according to 90-day Bitget Wallet study shared with Cointelegraph on Thursday that tracked the onchain activity of 857,000 active Polymarket users.

You can read more about it on https://cointelegraph.com/news/polymarket-first-crypto-touchpoint-world-cup-bettors

It means 60% of people that bet on world cup matches on Polymarket have not bet with cryptocurrencies before until they bet on Polymarket this time during world cup.

What do you think about this? More people are knowing bitcoin and other coins which can be helpful for the next bitcoin bull run? What is your take on this?

Polymarket spends an ungodly amount of money on marketing, from influencers to celebrities to everyone basically. Which makes people learn more about this, because it is not like the normal betting where you have set odds, there are literally funny things. I have seen "a naked striker would show up in the world cup" for example, and people actually thought it would actually happen like "yes" was betted a lot more .

Because the reality is, if you bet a lot on "no" then someone would simply bet on yes, and then have high odds, and then undress and run they would be probably jailed a bit, or just simple probation etc, but they would be getting rich because of it lol. Hence, this is more "fun", it's funny, it's not serious betting, but it's entertainment version of betting.

[Dogedegen]

Even today, the platform has a predictive market, although it differs in how it uses it, but the main goal is the same.
Polymarket as the first successful party to the prediction market became a bad example when many were opposed.

but then other platforms started using Polymarket as the main reference for the prediction market.
This is only a transition so Polymarket cannot be blamed for anything because this depends on the decision of each player.

Exchanges, social media, etc all display prediction markets, and this is the right moment because World Cup Exposure is high,
so it will be faster to get the number of users and viewers on the utilization of the prediction market for each match.

Yes and that is exactly my point, just because it was the first one to innovate in this area we should not somehow single it out and blame it when everyone is trying to do it. It seems to me that this year is a prediction market gold rush, even if I am not so sure that there is enough demand to sustain so many large players trying to roll out their own platforms. For some platforms where people already have money on them like gambling or exchanges I can understand to some point because the idea is that people don't have to withdraw to somewhere else like they would to participate and instead can do both in the same platform. There is some benefit to that from the usability angle, but on the other hand it also increases the chance that normal people will engage in gambling when otherwise they would not. So in the end it is actually better to keep it completely separated and not to have everything on the same platform.

Polymarket spends an ungodly amount of money on marketing, from influencers to celebrities to everyone basically.

The quantity of money is not that large actually, you should check it more.

[Wakate]

What I'm judging from your thread is that the crypto industry is indirectly growing tremendously, even though the gateway is gambling. Since casinos are open to the public, I think this is natural, and we, as crypto enthusiasts, should welcome this. Crypto has always had a path to the top. Currently, casinos and gambling are the gateways for crypto's growth. I'm sure most of these new players are fans of football clubs or other sports who join here.

Since many gamblers switched to crypto usage, this has been helping the crypto space to have more users and adoption gradually until what it is now. The adoption will keep spreading as more gamblers and casinos switch to safe crypto payments that is swift and you will not have to be waiting for longer time before your deposit is confirmed.