Ex-NFL Player’s Bitcoin Choice Turns $6.5 M Salary into $21M Payout

  • November 18, 2024
Ex-NFL Player’s Bitcoin Choice Turns $6.5 M Salary into $21M Payout

In 2020, previous Carolina Panthers offensive take on Russell Okung made headings by working out to have half of his $13 million NFL agreement for the 2020 season paid in Bitcoin.

Today, that move has actually settled, with the worth of Okung’s BTC now approximated at $21 million, thanks to the current rise in the possession’s costs.

$21 Million Payout

While he was not paid in cryptocurrency, the Panthers transformed $6.5 countless his income through Strike, a monetary service from Zap that helped with the purchase of Bitcoin with his funds. This relocation made Okung among the very first prominent expert athletes to get a significant part of his earnings in Bitcoin.

The digital possession was trading at around $27,000 at the time of his financial investment. With his $6.5 million, Okung obtained around 240 BTC, a relocation deemed a substantial monetary threat given that the cryptocurrency was still in a development stage and was understood for its unpredictable rate swings.

In late 2022, the cryptocurrency experienced among its more serious slumps, dropping to around $17,000. This suggests the 36-year-old’s financial investment briefly lost considerable worth, reducing to around $4.08 million. Okung chose to hold onto his stash.

Following the U.S. governmental election in November 2024, BTC costs rose significantly, reaching an all-time high of over $83,000. Since today, bitcoin is around $88,000, appreciating Okung’s preliminary 240 BTC to roughly $21.36 million.

This boost efficiently enhances the overall worth of his Panthers agreement to around $27.8 million, indicating Okung’s choice to invest half his income in Bitcoin has actually resulted in an extra $14.8 million in worth.

The previous offensive take on, who retired from expert football in 2023, just recently required to social networks to share his win, stating, “Results silence all disputes.”

Remarkably, the previous gamer, who is presently fronting an effort called Bitball that promotes paying professional athletes in BTC, has actually shown that he will not be capitalizing his windfall whenever quickly. “How long will I hold Bitcoin? Okay, for how long do I prepare to breathe?” Okung stated in a November 14 post on X.

the length of time will i hold bitcoin? fine, the length of time do i strategy to breathe? https://t.co/em2zLo3cqY

— OKUNG (@RussellOkung) November 13, 2024

Trump’s Election Win Aftermath

Bitcoin’s current rate rally followed Donald Trump’s success in the 2024 U.S. governmental election. The rally brought in significant inflows into digital possessions, with the OG cryptocurrency alone drawing in $1.8 billion, according to CoinShares’ Digital Asset Fund Flows weekly report.

The rally extended beyond Bitcoin, with Ethereum getting $157 million in inflows and noteworthy activity amongst altcoins like Solana, Uniswap, XRP, and Tron.

In general, the overall cryptocurrency market capitalization reached a brand-new all-time high of $3.12 trillion in early Asian trading on Tuesday, Nov. 12. This exceeded the previous record of $3.08 trillion set almost 3 years earlier in November 2021.

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