Bitcoin is one of the world’s most volatile and famous cryptocurrencies today. Over the years, the first decentralized cryptocurrency has witnessed highs and lows of epic extremes. What sets Bitcoin apart, however, from other trading assets is its volatility, which is why professional athletes worldwide, with the hopes of boosting their profit margins, started demanding their salary payments in Bitcoin a few years back. However, the crypto market has seen a significant dip, with us wondering if these athletes raked in the moolah or faced a bust.
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Panthers OT Russell Okung was the trendsetter when he became the first pro athlete to take nearly half of his $13 million contract in crypto. During the negotiation, Bitcoin was valued at $28,000. Since Okung’s move, floodgates have opened in the NFL world, with many following suit.
NFL star Trevor Lawrence was one of the first high-profile athletes to go bullish on the “crypto wave”. He converted his entire signing bonus worth $22,630,055 to crypto, as per Marca. Free Agent Saquon Barkley is another name who made a whopping $10 million in future endorsement earnings convertible to crypto during the wave. Aaron Rodgers also joined the bandwagon in 2021 when he announced taking a part of his salary in Bitcoin.
Apart from these players, there were a few select NFL athletes who took their risk-taking appetite to another level by taking their entire salary in Bitcoin. In 2021, former Chiefs TE Sean Culkin made history by demanding the Chiefs pay his entire salary of $950,000 in Bitcoins. Odell Beckham Jr. soon followed suit when he partnered up with an intermediary to get paid his entire LA Rams salary in Bitcoin. These NFL players are truly visionary because back when they made these deals, Bitcoin’s price fluctuated around the $28,000 – $45,000 mark, even reaching the $60k mark for a short period before seeing a huge plummet. Just a year back, it dipped to the $20k range.
However, to anyone’s surprise, Bitcoin touched epic heights last night when it crossed a historic $70,000 mark, Bitcoin.com reports. So, does this mean all the above-mentioned players made nearly 2 to 2.5 times their money? Honestly, we don’t have a confirmed answer.
If the players were patient enough to survive the bear market and hold on till now, then they surely must have doubled their money. However, if they sold their coins in haste while the market dipped, they have lost last night’s historic cash-in opportunity. All said and done, NFL fans are in awe of the vision of these players and took to social media to share their reactions. Take a look:
The historic $70,000 breach by Bitcoin seems to have brought the Bitcoin wave back to the NFL community. However, one must also remember the epic losses Tom Brady made during the NFT wave before going bullish on crypto.
Tom Brady Registered Multi-Million Dollar Losses After FTX Debacle
One of the key USPs of NFTs was its digital ownership and no third-party involvement in selling. Moreover, NFTs are traded using Ethereum which has been earmarked by many to upstage Bitcoin in the long run. A glimpse of this can be seen in the last 5 years where Ether has grown by 2,624% to Bitcoin’s 1,626%. On paper, NFTs seemed to be a great melange of collectibles and investments.
This saw Tom Brady become the brand ambassador and a minor shareholder in the trading platform FTX Platform. Unfortunately, the platform shut down last year due to allegations of fraud. The company filed for bankruptcy, which resulted in Brady facing $30 million in losses. Apart from going all in on the crypto trading platform, Brady’s other gripe would be to have accepted stock options in return for his collaboration. Unfortunately, TB12’s bad luck with NFTs and Crypto doesn’t stop here.
Back in 2021, Brady co-founded an NFT startup called The Autograph primarily focused on helping celebrities sell their NFTs to fans. The venture received funding immediately due to the NFT wave back then. However, things have spiraled down heavily since NFTs started fading away. Last year, Brady’s venture reported multi-million dollar revenue losses and also laid off 50 employees, according to NBC Sports. As of today, they have pivoted their mission and now focus on helping celebrities foster loyalty with their fans. Safe to say, Cryptocurrency and its subsidiaries are not for the faint-hearted!
