In Could 2019, NFL offensive lineman Russell Okung wrote on Twitter that he needed his wage to be paid in bitcoin, a kind of digital forex.
On Tuesday, he indicated that his want had been granted.
“Paid in Bitcoin,” he wrote on Twitter.
Okung is receiving half of his $13 million base wage for the 2020 season in bitcoin, in accordance with a information launch from Strike, an organization that helps customers convert conventional cash to the cryptocurrency. The corporate claims that Okung, who’s now with the Carolina Panthers, is the primary participant in league historical past to obtain a part of his annual paycheck within the type of a digital forex.
In response to the information launch, Okung lobbied each the Panthers and his former staff, the Los Angeles Chargers, to pay him in bitcoin earlier than discovering an answer. The Panthers in the end paid the 32-year-old sort out in conventional forex however then handed it via Strike, which transformed it to bitcoin.
An 11-year veteran and two-time Professional Bowl honoree, Okung has lengthy been an advocate of bitcoin, a kind of digital forex invented greater than a decade in the past. The forex is exchanged utilizing a kind of public recording system known as a blockchain, which eliminates the necessity for intermediaries like banks.
In a 2019 op-ed for Coindesk, a website that reviews on digital currencies, Okung likened bitcoin to “digital gold.”
“Nobody entity owns it or controls it,” he wrote. “… Bitcoin is undermining the established order of intermediaries: no extra banks, no more cash managers, no extra governments telling you what you may and might’t do together with your cash.”
A primary-round draft pick of Oklahoma State in 2010, Okung has earned north of $108 million in his NFL profession so far, according to Spotrac. He is because of turn into a free agent this offseason.
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.
