The first round of group matches in the 2026 World Cup has concluded, and the topics inside and outside the stadium have quickly heated up.

The Argentine team continues its strong performance, with Messi scoring a hat-trick, once again proving that he remains the most important core of this team; on the French side, Mbappe is in great form, scoring twice to help the team secure a crucial victory; stars like Haaland and Kane also delivered impressive performances. Meanwhile, another narrative that the World Cup does not lack — upsets — has happened as expected.

Spain failed to take all three points in their match, becoming one of the most discussed topics since the tournament opened; Portugal also faced strong resistance, with Ronaldo unable to lead the team to victory. For fans, these unexpected results often provide more discussion value than the victories of strong teams themselves.

The reason the World Cup can continually attract global attention largely lies in this uncertainty. Looking at a longer time dimension, the most noteworthy change in this year's World Cup may not be the performance of a particular team, but the expansion of the tournament itself.

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

Compared to the previous system of 32 teams, this World Cup has added 16 new spots for participants, allowing more countries and regions to have the opportunity to take the stage at the World Cup. Outside the world of football, a similar story of "expansion" is also happening simultaneously in the cryptocurrency industry.

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

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

When extending the timeline, we find that many globally influential industries have undergone a similar developmental process. Internet platforms have moved from serving a few users to serving billions; capital markets have evolved from a single category of investment to a rich asset system; and the World Cup has grown from an initially small-scale event to a global sports extravaganza.

The underlying logic is quite consistent. In the early stages of industry development, progress often relies on core participants to establish rules and order; as the industry gradually matures, how to attract more participants and build a richer ecosystem becomes a new topic.

The cryptocurrency industry is no different. Over the past decade, the Crypto world has not only seen growth in the number of users but also a continuous expansion concerning asset types and ecosystem structure. Today's crypto market is showing a development trajectory quite similar to the World Cup's expansion — continuously breaking boundaries and expanding the scope of participation.

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

The history of the cryptocurrency industry's development is essentially a history of continuous asset expansion.

If we look back at the early days of the industry, people's understanding of crypto assets was almost synonymous with Bitcoin. Then, the emergence of Ethereum promoted the development of the smart contract ecosystem, leading to a surge of innovative projects entering the market. Later, various tracks such as DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, and meme assets emerged, enriching the overall structure of assets in the industry.

In the last two years, a new trend has begun to attract market attention — the accelerated development of real-world assets (RWA) and products like Bitcoin spot ETFs bringing traditional capital into the arena. This indicates that the cryptocurrency industry is connecting with a broader financial system, further widening the boundaries of Crypto.

If the early crypto market resembled a tournament participated in by a few teams, then today's industry ecosystem is closer to a World Cup that has undergone expansion. Asset varieties are becoming increasingly rich, the roles of participants are becoming more diverse, and the market is gradually evolving from a single narrative into a more complex and open system.

As Assets Become Richer, Platforms are Playing the Role of "World Cup Organizers"

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

After the World Cup expansion, organizers needed to solve not only the problem of increased participant quotas but, more importantly, how to connect and compete among teams of varying levels and from different regions within the same framework. The same logic applies to the cryptocurrency industry.

As asset types continue to increase, users’ demands on platforms have also changed. Traders wish to access more market opportunities, project teams seek broader exposure channels, and the industry ecosystem requires more efficient liquidity and connectivity. Against this backdrop, trading platforms are gradually evolving from mere trading venues into crucial hubs for the entire ecosystem.

Take BitMart as an example; it has continuously expanded its asset coverage in recent years and has enriched its product system encompassing spot, futures, and innovative assets. In a certain sense, such platforms resemble a "super league" in the crypto world. Here, different types of assets have opportunities for showcase, while users from different backgrounds seek suitable ways to participate, and the platform itself plays a crucial role in connecting various market participants.

During the World Cup, this trend is also quite evident.

Surrounding the event itself, an increasing number of platforms are starting to attempt to combine viewing, interaction, and the digital asset ecosystem. For instance, the recent World Cup guessing event launched by BitMart utilizes a points guessing model that covers the entire duration of the event from group matches to the finals. Users can earn guessing points through mini-games, trading tasks, check-ins, and invitations, and then use those points for World Cup event predictions, participating in a prize pool valued at 880,000 USDT.

In a sense, the value of such activities is not merely in the guessing itself, but in drawing more users, initially focused on different content, into the same ecosystem due to the shared World Cup topic. Football fans, trading users, and cryptocurrency asset participants connect through the same activity scenario, and this connection is precisely one of the most important parts of the industry's expansion process.

For the industry, the value of this connectivity is becoming increasingly important. Because in an era of continuously expanding assets, platforms that can help users discover and participate in opportunities can often release greater ecological value.

The Next Stage of Competition Belongs to More Open Ecosystems

The expansion of the World Cup is a choice, and the expansion of the cryptocurrency industry is similarly a choice.

Whether in the world of football or the digital asset market, both are undergoing a transition from "niche participation" to "broad participation." In the past, people were accustomed to focusing on the top teams and the most mainstream assets; in the future, richer participants, broader demands, and more diversified ecosystem structures may be the important driving forces behind the continuous growth of the industry.

For the Crypto industry, the increase in asset types does not mean the market becomes chaotic; on the contrary, it signifies that the industry is beginning to possess stronger inclusivity and greater development space. From mainstream assets to innovative projects, from on-chain ecosystems to real-world assets, more and more elements are converging into the same market.

The World Cup expanding from 32 teams to 48 teams represents the football world’s open attitude towards the future; similarly, the cryptocurrency industry evolving from a single asset to a diverse ecosystem tells the same story. In this process, those platforms that can connect more assets, more users, and more opportunities may become the significant driving force of industry development in the next phase.

After all, whether it is the World Cup or the Crypto market, what truly determines its vitality is never the scale itself, but how many people can engage in it and find their place within.

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