This week's edition of The Protocol Newsletter highlights FIFA's implementation of the Avalanche blockchain for a new ticketing system.
By Margaux Nijkerk|Edited by Nikhilesh De Jun 17, 2026, 7:08 p.m. 4 min read
Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s tech newsletter focusing on the most significant developments in blockchain. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, a reporter at CoinDesk.
We are enhancing the newsletter to provide a more in-depth exploration of the key trends, innovations, and discussions shaping blockchain technology weekly.
This week, our attention is on FIFA's use of the Avalanche blockchain as it tests a fresh ticketing approach.
As the 2026 FIFA World Cup takes place across North America, a significant real-world application of blockchain technology is unfolding largely unnoticed.
FIFA Collect, the federation's digital collectibles and fan engagement platform, is leveraging the Avalanche network along with Modex to establish a new ticketing framework aimed at mitigating prevalent issues in sports, such as bots, ticket fraud, and inflated secondary-market prices.
This system operates on a tailored Avalanche Layer-1 blockchain termed the FIFA blockchain, featuring two main components for a set number of tickets: a Right-to-Buy (RTB) and a Right-to-Ticket (RTT). It’s essential to note that these do not represent the tickets themselves.
An RTB serves as a digital right that grants fans priority access to buy a specific ticket before it opens to the general public, offering an alternative to traditional ticket purchasing. Fans can obtain RTBs through FIFA Collect and can trade them on secondary markets at their market value. Once used, the RTB morphs into an RTT, which can then facilitate the purchase of an official match ticket through FIFA's existing ticketing system.
While the approach may seem intricate, the main objective is clear: to shift ticket resale activities into a FIFA-controlled environment rather than relying on external marketplaces.
Dominic Carbonaro, head of the consumer enterprise division at Ava Labs, the primary developer behind Avalanche, remarked, "It's akin to the Taylor Swift situation where, upon announcement, a massive surge of purchases occurs, mainly from bots that scoop up all the tickets, leading to secondary market sales." He emphasized that the RTB model "transfers the secondary sales market to FIFA's domain."
Typically, event organizers sell tickets at their original price, but much of the value generated by soaring demand is later captured by firms like StubHub or SeatGeek. FIFA's strategy seeks to reclaim some of that activity within its ecosystem, as part of a broader initiative for the 2026 World Cup that aims for tighter control over ticketing, fan data, stadium branding, and commercial operations associated with venues.
According to data provided by Ava Labs, over 100,000 RTBs have been issued thus far, with more than 50,000 Club World Cup tickets distributed alongside RTBs. The secondary market volume for RTTs has exceeded $15 million, while the combined volume of RTBs and RTTs has surpassed $25 million.
These figures are significant as they exemplify a blockchain application connected to a tangible product, a feat the crypto industry has struggled to achieve recently.
For Ava Labs, this initiative is less about NFTs and more focused on infrastructure. Carbonaro stated, "Our goal is to provide Web2-like experiences with blockchain technology acting in the background. Users shouldn't even realize they are engaging with blockchain."
This aims to allow fans to interact with a user-friendly application while blockchain manages verification and asset ownership behind the scenes. However, the actual match tickets are still issued through FIFA's existing system. When a fan redeems an RTB, it converts into an RTT, which can then be utilized to access the official ticket purchasing process and obtain the actual ticket through FIFA's traditional system.
Carbonaro added, "The tickets are now entirely verifiable on-chain, which diminishes all forms of fraud, such as counterfeit secondary sales."
This feature is particularly crucial for an event like the World Cup, which draws global interest and has historically been subject to ticket scams and counterfeit listings.
However, this experiment raises a vital question: who stands to gain the most?
Ava Labs contends that fans benefit from increased certainty. Instead of entering lotteries or enduring digital queues, users can obtain a tradable right that ensures access to ticket purchases. For FIFA, the advantages are even broader.
In addition to new revenue streams, this model provides FIFA with enhanced visibility regarding event attendees. In the conventional ticketing landscape, much of that data is held by secondary marketplaces.
Carbonaro pointed out, "The actual administrator of those tickets, FIFA, remains unaware of who is purchasing them. That information is retained by platforms like SeatGeek, StubHub, Ticketmaster, and Vivid Seats." He argued that the RTB and RTT system of FIFA Collect enables FIFA to gain better insight into the transfer of ticket rights within its ecosystem, rather than depending on third-party platforms that generally manage customer relationships.
With RTBs and RTTs, FIFA can more effectively monitor how fans navigate the ticketing process while keeping personal information off-chain and utilizing blockchain records for verification.
This data aspect may ultimately prove to be as valuable as the ticketing functionality itself. Sports organizations are increasingly recognizing direct fan relationships as strategic assets, especially as AI technologies enhance the value of first-party data.
It remains to be seen whether FIFA's ticketing model will serve as a blueprint for future tournaments. Critics may suggest that introducing tradable purchase rights merely adds another layer between fans and tickets.
Regardless, the World Cup showcases potential pathways for blockchain adoption. Instead of pushing consumers to adopt crypto, initiatives like FIFA Collect are striving to make it inconspicuous. For Avalanche, this could represent the most critical assessment yet.
Read more: FIFA Teams Up With Avalanche to Build Its Own Blockchain, Expanding Web3 Ambition