Three Crypto Wallets Cashed Out $24.25M From World Cup Bets

Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain identified three cryptocurrency wallets on June 21 that together generated $24.25 million in profit from World Cup prediction markets and moved their proceeds to a single Binance deposit address. The wallets recorded 13 winning positions from 16 settled World Cup bets before ceasing activity and withdrawing remaining balances.

Lookonchain identified the wallets as mintblade, GRIMDRIP and EndlessFate. Mintblade generated $9.24 million after five winning positions with no recorded losses; GRIMDRIP earned $7.6 million from two winning trades; and EndlessFate made $7.41 million after six correct predictions out of nine. All three accounts routed funds to Binance using the deposit address 0xB08B…317D.

Cryptocurrency exchanges typically assign individual deposit addresses to customers, so multiple accounts sending funds to the same address can indicate a common destination. The on-chain transactions do not reveal who operated the wallets or how the bets were selected.

The wallets stopped placing bets after posting the gains and cleared their remaining balances. An on-chain analyst known as Specter observed similar trading patterns from other wallets during the World Cup but did not provide evidence linking those accounts to mintblade, GRIMDRIP or EndlessFate.

The activity occurred during an expanded 48-team World Cup that coincided with heavy use of prediction markets. Platform records and blockchain data show more than $5 billion traded on World Cup contracts across two major prediction platforms in the tournament’s opening stages. One platform’s contract on which country would win the tournament reached about $3 billion in cumulative volume.

Observers also highlighted a separate account, fishalive, which realized roughly $9 million after placing about $4.2 million in two positions against Spain in its match with Cape Verde. One of those wagers was about $427,000 on Spain failing to win at an implied probability near 9%, a position that paid about $4.7 million after Spain’s scoreless draw.

Prediction-market operators have added rules this year aimed at limiting trades by participants with potential conflicts. One platform bars trading by people who possess confidential information or can influence results; another has placed restrictions on athletes, political candidates and other connected individuals. U.S. lawmakers have proposed several measures addressing prediction markets, including limits on sports and political contracts, but none of those proposals had become law at press time.

Dara Campbell, a senior executive at Hashgraph Ventures, described the trading volumes as smashing expectations. Lookonchain’s report and the shared deposit address prompted scrutiny but do not, by themselves, identify the operators of the wallets or establish that any rules were broken.