Cryptocurrencies are making gambling on the world'south virtually popular sport easier, sports authorities suggest.

Asian soccer has seen a precipitous decline in match-fixing over the final six years, according to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in a Reuters article dated Feb. fourteen. However, the illegal gambling which has historically driven match-fixing in the region has grown, partly due to the rise of cryptocurrencies as a payment method.

Corruption and match-fixing downwards

The AFC and its integrity partner, Swiss-based Sportradar, have been working together to tackle corruption in Asian Soccer since 2022.

Prior to this, a handful of big global syndicates operated the illicit gambling and friction match-fixing racket, merely cheers to the AFC'southward clean upwardly efforts, this has now become the domain of alone-wolves and local gangs.

Oscar Brodkin, the director of intelligence and investigation services at Sportradar said, "With key figures beingness imprisoned or disrupted and very high-contour cases being discussed in the media, match-fixing over the last five years has get much more than fragmented."

Illegal gambling upwardly

However, throughout this menstruum, betting amounts have get larger, and traditional payment methods are being replaced past cryptocurrencies and even payment in kind. Brodkin said:

"We have observed an increase in adoption of cryptocurrency as a payment method for illegal activities and a medium to bet."

Transparency International estimated the illicit gambling marketplace in Asia to exist worth around $400 billion in 2022. Gambling is technically illegal across nigh of the continent, including the most populous nations: mainland Red china, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

As Cointelegraph reported, in Europe, soccer'south relationship with crypto is a more positive one, with several clubs launching blockchain-based fan tokens to increment engagement. Almost recently, Castilian soccer powerhouse FC Barcelona partnered with fintech platform Chiliz to create a blockchain-based token for the sports franchise.