Former National Football League player Russell Okung wanted to be paid in Bitcoin BTC/USD back in 2020 and shocked many in the sports world, including teammates, agents and financial advisors, when he announced that half his salary would be paid out via the leading cryptocurrency.
Once viewed as a joke to skeptics and members of the media, Okung could be having the last laugh, with his Bitcoin salary received from the NFL soaring in value in the past year.
What Happened: The price of Bitcoin has climbed in value since Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, hitting several new all-time highs this week.
Many Bitcoin investors are celebrating, including Okung, who made headlines in the sports and cryptocurrency worlds when he became the first athlete of the four major North American sports leagues to announce that a portion of his salary would be paid in Bitcoin.
“Normal is a trap. I dumped all our bonds because I believed. Financial advisors questioned me,” Okung recently tweeted about his Bitcoin decision.
Okung also tweeted that the NFL teaches players how to avoid going broke but doesn’t educate them about Bitcoin.
“Odd how the NFL spent millions teaching us not to go broke, but the billionaire owners never shared how to build wealth. All I did was buy bitcoin, now we make history.”
Recently, Okung shared a series of videos as part of a series called “Pay Me in Bitcoin,” named after his May 14, 2019 tweet, which said the same.
In the first video, Okung recalled a friend telling him all kinds of things about Bitcoin, mainly things that sounded like conspiracy theories about the U.S. Dollar and the Federal Reserve. Okung said it took some time for things to catch on for him, and then he decided to talk to his team owner about getting paid in Bitcoin.
In 2019, Okung said that he wanted to be paid in Bitcoin and cited the corrupt money system and inequalities inherent in fiat currency.
“Money is more than currency; it’s power. Getting paid in bitcoin is the first step to opting out of the corrupt, manipulated economy we all inhabit,” Okung said at the time.
Okung partnered with Zap, a company whose Strike product was used to help convert 50% of his salary to Bitcoin.
While the National Football League and the National Football League Player’s Association had to sign off on the deal, the NFL and Okung’s team, the Carolina Panthers, did not directly pay his salary in Bitcoin.
Instead, Zap converted 50% of Okung’s $13 million salary to Bitcoin. The NFL regularly pays athletes on a weekly basis during the season.
The 2020 NFL season ended up being the last for Okung, who missed a portion of the season due to injuries. Okung played 11 NFL seasons with stints for the Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers and Carolina Panthers.
For many people outside of sports, Okung will be best remembered for his passion for Bitcoin and becoming a trailblazer with his 2020 salary.
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Okung’s Bitcoin Salary: While it is unknown exactly when Okung began having his salary converted to Bitcoin, the announcement was made in December, leaving uncertainty about whether 50% of the full $13 million amount was indeed converted.
For the purpose of this article, we assume that 50% of the $13 million, or $6.5 million, was converted to Bitcoin. We also use the intraday high of $27,370.72 on Dec. 29, 2020, as the price used for the conversion, even though multiple conversions may have been made throughout the 2020 season.
Based on those assumptions, the $6.5 million portion of Okung’s salary converted to Bitcoin could have bought 237.4801 BTC.
The $6.5 million purchase would be worth $21,057,766.56 today based on a price of $88,671.71 for Bitcoin at the time of writing.
The $13 million salary Okung made in 2020 was tied for the most he made annually with the 2019 season.
According to Spotrac, Okung made $108.9 million in 11 seasons, including salary and bonuses.
Okung continues to support Bitcoin with posts on social media.
“I won’t sugarcoat it. I’m not going to advise you to HODL and struggle to pay your bills. Those who tell you to do so often have multiple fiat income streams. Find ways to earn what you need while you build and create value in and on Bitcoin,” Okung tweeted earlier this year.
It is unknown how much Bitcoin Okung owns today, but his social media posts often suggest he hasn’t sold any of the BTC he made while playing in the NFL.
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This article was previously published by Benzinga and has been updated.
Photo: Jai Agnish/Shutterstock.com
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