Swiss Regulator Probes FIFA’s 2026 World Cup Token Sales

Switzerland’s gambling watchdog has launched a review into FIFA’s “Right-to-Buy” tokens for the 2026 World Cup, examining whether the digital assets fall under the country’s strict gambling ￰0￱ Takeaways: Swiss regulator Gespa is reviewing FIFA’s Right-to-Buy tokens to determine if they fall under gambling ￰1￱ tokens grant holders a conditional right to buy World Cup tickets if their selected team ￰2￱ has migrated its NFT infrastructure from Algorand to Avalanche to enhance scalability and fan ￰3￱ probe, first reported by Bloomberg , is still in its early stages and does not allege any ￰4￱ Regulator Reviews FIFA NFTs for Gambling Risk The Swiss authority, Gespa, confirmed it is currently assessing if the tokens, which can be purchased and traded on FIFA’s NFT marketplace, resemble gambling products or are simply conditional rights to buy ￰5￱ Richard, Gespa’s director, told Bloomberg that the regulator is in a fact-gathering phase and has not received any formal ￰6￱ as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), FIFA’s RTB tokens reserve the right to purchase tickets for specific matches if certain conditions are ￰7￱ are not tickets themselves but grant holders a guaranteed purchase window, at face value, should their selected team qualify for a given stage of the ￰8￱ program was first introduced for the 2024 World Cup Final, offering 1,000 tokens linked to different national ￰9￱ 2026, token prices range from $299 to $999 based on a team’s likelihood of reaching the ￰10￱ selling $7K NFTs for *maybe* getting World Cup tickets?

That's not innovation, that's just expensive lottery tickets with extra ￰11￱ regulators doing the math too – 99.9% chance this gets regulated into oblivion. — ReSpin Casino (@ReSpinCasino) October 7, 2025 Underdogs are priced lower, while tournament favorites like Brazil, Argentina, and England carry higher price ￰12￱ of the tokens are already sold ￰13￱ developed the program to address demand pressure for high-profile ￰14￱ the 2022 Qatar World Cup, 3.4 million tickets were available, but 23 million were requested, the organization ￰15￱ RTB tokens aim to create a more predictable and transparent way for fans to secure access to top matches. FIFA’s Web3 infrastructure is powered by Modex, which operates the native ￰16￱ the broader NFT market has cooled since its 2021–2022 peak, FIFA has continued expanding into the ￰17￱ digital assets span collectibles, access rights, and Web3 ￰18￱ starting on the Algorand blockchain, FIFA migrated its NFT ecosystem to Avalanche in May ￰19￱ move includes deploying its marketplace and launching a dedicated Avalanche Subnet designed to handle large traffic spikes around global ￰20￱ Abbate, CEO of Modex and FIFA Collect, noted that Avalanche’s EVM-compatible AvaCloud stack allows for better integration with digital wallets and ￰21￱ Expands Into NFT Gaming With ‘FIFA Rivals’ App Beyond tokenized tickets, FIFA has embraced NFT-based gaming through its “FIFA Rivals” mobile title, developed with Mythical ￰22￱ app lets users manage clubs and trade player cards ￰23￱ May, FIFA officially migrated its NFT platform , FIFA Collect, to a custom Avalanche Layer-1 blockchain, ending its partnership with ￰24￱ move aims to boost speed, scalability, and user experience for over five billion fans, with support for EVM wallets like MetaMask.

FIFA’s move to establish its blockchain infrastructure aligns with a growing trend among traditional sports organizations turning to Web3 to deepen fan engagement and explore new revenue ￰25￱ 2021, the NBA’s Top Shot initiative with Dapper Labs demonstrated the viability of large-scale digital ￰26￱ major leagues, including the NFL and MLB, have also launched various NFT-based projects.