[Digital Today reporter Yoonseo Lee] The start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup could lead to about $3 billion in additional trading volume in prediction markets, a projection said.

On June 12 (local time), blockchain outlet Coinpost reported that investment bank Bernstein analysed the tournament as a potential catalyst for record transaction volume and betting size in the sports betting and prediction-market sector.

The World Cup has expanded to 48 teams and 104 matches. Bernstein estimated prediction-market trading volume could rise by more than $3 billion during the tournament, and total betting across the sector could increase by up to $10 billion. Prediction markets involve buying and selling contracts linked to outcomes of real-world events such as elections, interest-rate decisions and sports results, with contract prices reflecting the probability of a given outcome.

By platform, Kalshi holds the lead. Total prediction-market trading volume in May was about $31.2 billion, up about 5 percent from the previous month, and Kalshi volume rose 21 percent to $17.9 billion. Its market share increased to about 57 percent. Polymarket's global volume, meanwhile, fell 14.8 percent to $7.1 billion from the previous month.

Bernstein named DraftKings as the biggest beneficiary of the tournament. DraftKings' prediction-market product, DraftKings Predictions, operates as the only legal sports betting product in California, Texas and Florida. Those three states are home to 52 percent of the Hispanic population in the United States.

It also presented a forecast for growth in new accounts. Bernstein projected DraftKings Predictions would add about 650,000 new accounts during the World Cup, bringing cumulative accounts to about 2 million by the end of 2026. DraftKings said May annualised handle rose 24 percent from the previous month to $1.3 billion, while total trading volume increased 34 percent to $3.1 billion.

Operators linked to the cryptocurrency industry are also seeking a World Cup boost. Prediction-market platform Myriad adopted Chainlink as its exclusive oracle infrastructure for markets covering all matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Myriad will support automatic settlement of match results and instant payouts, and will also run a $100,000 trading competition.

Coinbase is also offering World Cup-related contracts through a partnership with Kalshi. The product surpassed $100 million in annualised revenue in March, less than two months after its launch in early 2026. Bernstein saw the World Cup as the product's first major global sports catalyst.

The long-term outlook was also maintained. Bernstein forecast total prediction-market transaction volume could grow from about $51 billion in 2025 to $1 trillion in 2030. That implies an average annual growth rate of about 80 percent. It put its 2026 total volume estimate at $240 billion.

Prediction markets quickly raised their profile during the 2024 U.S. presidential election as large-scale trading poured into blockchain-based platforms. The World Cup is expected to be a test of how much a global sports event, following a political event, can drive expansion in prediction markets. Kalshi's rising share, DraftKings' region-based expansion and performance of Coinbase's partner product are emerging as key points to watch during the tournament.

LATEST: ⚽ Bernstein called the FIFA World Cup a "watershed moment" for prediction markets, projecting $5B-$10B in consumer volume from the tournament alone. pic.twitter.com/fWuCYHMvUV