Odell Beckham Jr. has endorsed BTC in a big way as he opts to get his salary in Bitcoin. Odell joins a long list of athletes and high-profile individuals preferring crypto to fiat. This move makes sense as U.S. inflation hits a 31-year high. Could this be the best time to buy crypto and HODL?
We’ve previously written extensively about how the worlds of crypto and sports are colliding in a huge way this year, signalling a watershed moment in the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies. Well, American football star Odell Beckham Jr, better known as OBJ, gave Bitcoin a major endorsement after announcing to his 4.1 million Twitter followers that he will take his salary in the leading cryptocurrency.
This follows last month’s news that our wallet partner and top exchange Crypto.com has secured naming rights for the Lakers’ now former Staples Center for a record amount and NYDIG is partnering with the Houston Rockets.
Mobile payment services app Cash App (now rebranded to as Spiral) is in on the act as it helped to enable the athlete to switch his salary from fiat to crypto.
Cash App was developed by Block (formerly known as Square Inc.), a financial services company founded by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2009. The company splashed $220 million in two tranches and now holds 8,027 BTC which are valued at more than $455.6 million at the time of writing. Dorsey is a massive Bitcoin maximalist who stepped down last week from his position as Twitter head, likely in order to build out payment systems for Web 3.0. protocols and further develop Bitcoin’s smart contract capabilities following the Bitcoin Taproot upgrade.
The hyped athlete further added that he is giving away $1 million in Bitcoin. He recently signed a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Rams and he stands to earn as much as $4.25 million from the deal.
Odell’s decision was met with enthusiasm from some of the leading figures in crypto. Crypto influencer and investor Anthony Pompliano congratulated the athlete, and wrote: “plugging your personal balance sheet into the bitcoin network is a great way to ensure that your legacy lives on for decades to come.”
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor also welcomed Odell to “Team Bitcoin.” The legendary Bitcoin HODLer tweeted afterwards:
Athletes Are Switching to Bitcoin Salary
OBJ joins a growing list of athletes earning their salary in Bitcoin. Football quarterback Tom Brady, Russel Okung, Sean Culkin, and Saquon Barkley are some of the athletes that have already made the salary switch and are publically very bullish on Bitcoin.
Tom Brady earlier made waves when he tapped FTX to help reward a fan who caught his 600th touchdown ball with 1 whole Bitcoin.
Lionel Messi also chose to take fan tokens as part of his package when he joined Paris St Germaine earlier this year. Perth Heat, one of the leading baseball teams in Australia, also announced last month that its players and staff would earn their salary in Bitcoin.
Outside sports, musicians are also interested in getting paid. Busta Rhymes tweeted in August that he was thinking “about getting payment in Bitcoin for shows and future business dealings.”
Conclusion
There is a lesson to be learned when high net worth individuals, athletes, musicians, and ordinary people want to receive their salary bitcoin. Bitcoin is a hedge against inflation. Inflation in the U.S. has hit a 31-year high and banks fear that it will linger around for a long time. The antidote simply requires you to consider buying and HODLing Bitcoin (which usually shoots up in value every four years after its Halving event) and other quality cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Polkadot.
If millionaires and even countries like El Salvador (who keeps buying the dip) are turning to crypto to safeguard their wealth, it is a no-brainer that the average Joe and Jane should take a long hard look into this amazing asset to protect their future. As always, do your own research, and invest responsibly. Use techniques like dollar-cost averaging where possible to lower your risk over time. Other options like DeFi staking also offer an additional way to bring your cost of investment down.
This article doesn’t constitute financial advice and should not be considered as such. Opinions are the author’s own and do not reflect that of CoolBitX or CoolWallet.
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