G2 Esports’ Solana bet turned €3.2M into €16M, and now crypto is reshaping how we watch competitive gaming

G2 Esports and Nongshim RedForce squared off at the Esports World Cup 2026, with the group stage clash on July 3, 2026, seeing NS RedForce take the series 2-1 over G2, including a dominant 13-5 performance on the Breeze map.

G2’s crypto playbook is already paying off

G2 Esports made a significant investment in Solana tokens around 2023, putting approximately €3.2 million into SOL. That bet turned into roughly €16 million in returns.

The org also maintains an ongoing sponsorship partnership with Betpanda, a crypto-centric betting platform. That deal puts a digital asset brand in front of millions of esports viewers across tournaments like the EWC.

Not every crypto venture has gone smoothly for G2, though. A previous collaboration with NFT platform Bondly ended in litigation, a reminder that the intersection of esports and crypto still carries meaningful risk alongside the upside.

Prediction markets are turning matches into tradeable events

Platforms like Coinbase Predictions and Kalshi have started listing active betting and prediction markets for EWC Valorant matches.

For traders, these markets offer on-chain transparency, programmable settlement, and the ability to integrate match data into broader trading strategies. When G2 plays a high-profile match, the prediction market activity around it generates real-time sentiment data that savvy participants can use.

Why this matters beyond gaming

G2 isn’t just accepting sponsorship dollars from crypto firms. They’re holding crypto on their balance sheet, partnering with crypto-native betting platforms, and competing in tournaments where prediction markets provide real-time financial infrastructure around every match.

The risk, as G2’s Bondly litigation reminds us, is that not every crypto partnership delivers. Regulatory scrutiny around prediction markets and crypto betting is intensifying in multiple jurisdictions.

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