According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, The Carolina Panthers’ Russell Okung is the first NFL player to be paid half of his salary in Bitcoin. The athlete has never been shy about his interest in The popular cryptocurrency currently taking the world by storm. At the moment, the price has reached over $33,000 for the first time ever.
He tweeted this past Tuesday that he was paid in Bitcoin, “paid in Bitcoin” he wrote in response to a previous tweet asking “pay me in Bitcoin.” The free agent is creating his own opportunities on and off the forked, starting off with this huge payout benefitting him for many years to come.
Okung may be the first NFL player paid in the cryptocurrency but there are other athletes who has previously explored how to integrate the idea into their own careers. Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie set the bar high with the initiative to “hold a fan vote on his next team if a GoFundMe campaign he set up raised more than $24.6 million in Bitcoin.” He’s been interested in building a Professional Athlete Investment Token, allowing anyone to invest in him as they would for a traditional stock.
The idea of being paid in Bitcoin isn’t new but it’s exciting to see it happen, especially for an NFL player such as Russell Okung who’s passionate about it.
An NFL first: #Panthers OT Russell Okung will receive half of his $13M in salary in Bitcoin. As part of a partnership with @in_strike and thanks to creative payroll solutions from the #Panthers, @russellokung will fulfill the goal he set when he tweeted “Pay me in Bitcoin!”
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 29, 2020
