FIFA phases out Algorand as digital collectibles move to new blockchain
ALGO price drops 3% amid FIFA blockchain shift
FIFA's digital platform FIFA Collect, created by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) for the exchange and trading of collectible NFTs among football fans, has announced its upcoming migration to a new EVM-compatible blockchain.
The transition, set to begin no earlier than May 20, aims to support improved performance, future functionality, and enhanced scalability of FIFA's digital collectibles ecosystem.
According to FIFA, this change will not affect user access to their accounts or existing collectibles. All assets will remain fully secure and accessible throughout the migration process and afterward.
FIFA's partnership with Algorand and first steps into digital assets
In May 2022, FIFA announced a strategic partnership with Algorand, naming it the organization's official blockchain partner. Under the agreement, Algorand provided a blockchain wallet solution and played a key role in shaping FIFA’s digital asset strategy.
This partnership led to the launch of the FIFA Collect platform on Algorand in the same year. The current update will change wallet compatibility: Algorand-based wallets such as Pera and Defly will no longer be supported after the migration. Instead, users will be able to connect using MetaMask or other EVM-compatible wallets via WalletConnect.
“The FIFA blockchain was built to support new capabilities, wallet compatibility, and a more robust foundation for future innovations,” FIFA said in its migration documentation.
The document advises that users who have exported collectibles must re-import them before the migration date to be included in the automatic transfer process. After that date, manual migration will require additional verification.
USDC balances will remain spendable until the migration date and can still be withdrawn afterward, but cannot be spent post-transition. Collectibles that are listed for sale will be automatically migrated to the new platform unless manually delisted beforehand.
ALGO price dynamics for 24 hours. Source: Trading View
Following the migration news, the ALGO token dropped by 3% in 24 hours, trading at $0.216 at the time of writing.
As we wrote, Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, announced an unexpected pivot into the digital asset arena by revealing plans to launch “FIFA Coin.”
