The BBC just aired its closing montage for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, set to “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” wrapping up what was by all accounts the biggest tournament in the event’s history. Spain beat Argentina in the final at MetLife Stadium on July 19. But buried inside the spectacle of 54 live BBC-broadcasted matches across three host nations was a quieter milestone: crypto officially showed up on the world’s largest sporting stage.

Kraken became the first Official Crypto Exchange Supporter of the FIFA World Cup on June 9, 2026. Not a jersey patch. Not a stadium naming deal. But a formal, FIFA-sanctioned designation that put a digital asset company’s brand in front of billions of global viewers for the first…