After the World Cup expanded its format, the crypto industry has also entered its own "48-team era"

With the first round of group matches concluded in the 2026 World Cup, discussion topics on and off the pitch have quickly heated up.

Argentina continued their dominant form, with Messi scoring a hat-trick, once again proving he remains the most crucial core of the team. For France, Mbappé was in top form, scoring a brace to secure a vital victory. Stars like Haaland and Kane also delivered impressive performances. Simultaneously, one of the World Cup's most classic narratives emerged right on schedule: upsets.

Spain failed to secure all three points, becoming one of the most talked-about topics since the tournament began. Portugal also faced stubborn resistance, with Cristiano Ronaldo unable to lead his team to victory. For fans, these unexpected results often generate more discussion than wins by powerhouse teams.

The World Cup’s ability to consistently captivate global attention is largely due to this very unpredictability. But looking at a broader timeline, the most notable change this year might not be any particular team's performance, but the tournament's expansion itself.

This marks the first time in World Cup history that the number of participating teams has been expanded to 48.

Compared to the previous 32-team format, this World Cup adds 16 new berths, providing more countries and regions with the opportunity to grace the world stage. Beyond the world of football, a similar story of "expansion" is also unfolding simultaneously within the crypto industry.

From Sports to Finance, "Expansion" is Becoming a New Industry Consensus

A common characteristic of mature ecosystems is their continuous absorption of new participants.

Looking at the long arc of history, many globally influential industries have undergone similar development processes. Internet platforms evolved from serving a few users to serving billions. Capital markets developed from a single asset class to a rich system of diverse assets. And the World Cup grew from a small-scale tournament into a global sporting event.

The underlying logic is quite consistent. In the early stages of an industry's development, core participants are crucial for establishing rules and order. As the industry matures, the new challenge becomes how to attract more participants and build a richer ecosystem.

The same holds true for the crypto industry. Over the past decade-plus, the crypto world has experienced not just user growth, but a continuous expansion in asset types and ecosystem structure. Today's crypto market is exhibiting a trajectory quite similar to the World Cup's expansion—constantly breaking boundaries and expanding the scope of participation.

From BTC to RWA, Crypto Assets Are Also Experiencing Their Own "Expansion Era"

The history of the crypto industry is essentially a history of continuous asset expansion.

In the industry's early days, people's understanding of crypto assets was almost synonymous with Bitcoin. Then, the emergence of Ethereum spurred the development of the smart contract ecosystem, bringing numerous innovative projects to market. Later, different sectors like DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, and Meme assets rose in succession, making the industry's asset structure increasingly diverse.

In the last couple of years, a new trend has begun to attract market attention: the accelerated development of Real World Assets (RWA) and the influx of traditional capital through products like Bitcoin spot ETFs. This signifies the crypto industry forging deeper connections with the broader financial system, further widening the boundaries of crypto.

If the early crypto market was more like a tournament involving a few teams, today's industry ecosystem resembles an expanded World Cup. Asset types are becoming richer, participant roles more diverse, and the market is evolving from a single narrative into a more complex and open system.

As Assets Become More Plentiful, Platforms Are Taking on the Role of "World Cup Organizers"

After asset expansion, the truly important question becomes how to connect these assets.

Following the World Cup's expansion, organizers needed to solve more than just the increase in participating teams. The more critical issue was how to enable connection and competition among teams with varying levels and from different regions within a single system. The same principle applies to the crypto industry.

As the variety of assets increases, user demands on platforms also change. Traders seek exposure to more market opportunities, project teams look for wider channels of exposure, and the industry ecosystem craves more efficient liquidity and connectivity. In this context, trading platforms are gradually evolving from simple trading venues into vital hubs for the entire ecosystem.

Take BitMart for example. In recent years, it has continuously expanded its asset coverage and enriched its product suite, including spot, futures, and innovative assets. In a sense, such a platform functions more like a "super league" in the crypto world. Different types of assets get a chance for exposure here, users from diverse backgrounds find suitable ways to participate, and the platform itself plays a key role in connecting various market parties.

This trend is also very evident during the World Cup.

Centered around the tournament, more and more platforms are attempting to integrate viewing experiences, fan interaction, and the digital asset ecosystem. For instance, the recently launched World Cup Prediction Event by BitMart adopts a points-based prediction model, covering the entire tournament period from group stage to final. Users can earn prediction points through mini-games, trading tasks, check-ins, and invitations, then use these points for World Cup match predictions to participate in the distribution of the 880,000 USDT total prize pool.

In a sense, the value of such events lies not just in the prediction mechanic itself, but in bringing together users focused on different content into a single ecosystem around the common topic of the World Cup. Football fans, trading users, and crypto asset participants connect through the same event scenario, and this kind of connection is precisely a crucial part of the industry's expansion process.

For the industry, the value of this connectivity is becoming increasingly important. In an era of continuous asset expansion, platforms that can help users discover opportunities and participate in them are often able to unlock greater ecosystem value.

The Next Phase of Competition Belongs to More Open Ecosystems

The World Cup's expansion was a choice; the crypto industry's expansion is also a choice.

Both the football world and the digital asset market are undergoing a transition from "niche participation" to "widespread participation." In the past, people were accustomed to focusing on the top teams and the most mainstream assets. In the future, a richer base of participants, more diverse demands, and a more pluralistic ecosystem structure may be the key drivers of sustained industry growth.

For the crypto industry, an increase in asset types does not mean the market becomes chaotic. Quite the opposite, it signifies the industry developing greater inclusivity and more room for growth. From mainstream assets to innovative projects, from on-chain ecosystems to real-world assets, more and more elements are converging into a single market.

The World Cup's expansion from 32 to 48 teams represents an open attitude within the football world towards the future. The crypto industry's evolution from a single asset to a diverse ecosystem tells a similar story. In this process, platforms capable of connecting more assets, more users, and more opportunities may become the key driving forces for the industry's development in the next phase.

After all, whether for the World Cup or the crypto market, what truly determines its vitality is never its own size, but rather how many people it can engage and allow to find their place within it.