It’s a fascinating time to look at this, especially with the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics currently serving as a massive live laboratory for these technologies.
The shift we’re seeing right now isn’t just about “crypto” as a speculative coin; it’s about blockchain becoming the invisible plumbing for global events. Here’s a breakdown of how this is playing out:
The 2026 Winter Olympics: Beyond the Hype
While past Olympics experimented with digital collectibles, Milano Cortina 2026 is leaning into utility and infrastructure.
- Tokenization as Marketing: Companies like TokenFi have launched massive “real-world” branding campaigns across Italy (including takeovers at Venice Marco Polo Airport and Milan’s tram systems) to target the high-net-worth global audience attending the Games.
- NFT Ticketing: There is a major push toward blockchain-based ticketing to combat the $12+ billion lost annually to fraud. By using NFT-backed tickets, organizers can enforce “code-based” resale caps and transfer limits, making the secondary market much safer for fans.
- Digital Pin Trading: A classic Olympic tradition has gone high-tech. Alibaba Cloud introduced an “Intelligent Pin Trading Station” in the Olympic Village, where AI and digital assets allow athletes to trade pins globally in a shared digital pool.
- Is Crypto Actually “Mainstream”?
The consensus for 2026 is that we are moving from speculation to production.
- Institutional Era: We’ve moved past the “four-year cycle” of retail hype. Major institutions like BlackRock and HSBC are now treating digital assets as a standard part of a diversified portfolio.
- Stablecoins as the “Internet’s Dollar”: Stablecoins are becoming the quiet backbone of global payments. By 2026, they are less of a “crypto narrative” and more of a practical tool for cross-border settlement and everyday transactions at large-scale events.
- Real-World Assets (RWA): The big buzzword this year is “tokenization.” We aren’t just tokenizing JPEGs; we are tokenizing real estate, bonds, and even Olympic souvenirs to provide fractional ownership and better liquidity.
- Sports as the Ultimate “On-Ramp”
Sports are uniquely positioned to drive adoption because they provide a tangible use case for a non-technical audience:
- Fan Engagement: Through fan tokens and NFT-based “moments” (similar to NBA Top Shot), teams are finding ways to monetize performance as digital content.
- Transparency: Blockchain is being used to verify the scarcity of limited-edition merchandise, ensuring that “1 of 100” actually means 100.
The Verdict
Digital assets are becoming “mainstream,” but perhaps not in the way people expected in 2021. Instead of everyone paying for coffee with Bitcoin, the underlying technology (DLT) is being used to secure your ticket, verify your official jersey, and move money behind the scenes between international banks.
The 2026 Games show that the “Digital Asset” era is successful because the technology is finally becoming invisible and functional rather than loud and confusing.