Odell Beckham Jr To Take Full Salary in Bitcoin

In the growing world of cryptocurrencies, the possible uses for the most popular cryptos are ever-expanding. In recent years, the number of businesses accepting Bitcoin as payment for products and services has only increased. Besides that, we are starting to see a huge surge in celebrities and the general public taking their salaries in Bitcoin too. Now, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr (OBJ) will be joining that list.

OBJ signed a one-year deal with the Rams after being traded away by the Cleveland Browns. His contract contains a $500K signing bonus, $750K salary and up to $3 million in team-based incentives - this means that the NFL star could potentially receive $4.25 million in Bitcoin in the next year.

Beckham took to social media on Monday to announce the news - tweeting that he will now be taking his entire salary in Bitcoin.

“It’s a NEW ERA & to kick that off I’m hyped to announce that I’m taking my new salary in bitcoin thanks to @CashApp,” Beckham stated. He continued “to all my fans out there, no matter where u r: Thank you! I’m giving back a total of $1M in BTC rn too. Drop your $cashtag w #OBJBTC & follow CashApp NOW."

The tweet has over 88,000 comments and counting, including numerous screenshots from ecstatic fans who had received roughly $20 each in Bitcoin, directly from OBJ himself.

Beckham is not the first NFL player opting to take his salary in Bitcoin. Perhaps even more high profile was Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers revealing last month that he will be taking a portion of his salary in Bitcoin. Rodgers is partnered with Cash App and will be using that connection to take home a portion of his $33.5 million salary in BTC, which could even extend to his entire 4-year contract worth $134 million.

Rodgers similarly shared the news on Twitter:

He said, “I’m pumped to share that I’ve recently teamed with CashApp, they’ve enabled me to take part of my NFL salary in Bitcoin for the very first time.”

Even NFL legend Tom Brady is looking to get involved in the world of crypto. During an interview on the Go SiriusXM podcast, Brady stated "I'd love to request to get paid in some crypto and, you know, to get paid in some Bitcoin or Ethereum or Solana tokens.”

Odell Beckham Jr is only the latest in a stream of celebrities and NFL stars following Russel Okung's choice to receive half of his $13 million salary in Bitcoin last year. Trevor Lawrence, the No.1 overall in the NFL draft in May 2021, elected to put his estimated signing bonus of over $22 million, straight into Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. Lionel Messi even chose to receive partial payment of his new PSG salary (reportedly in the region of $130m over three years) in the club’s own ‘$PSG Fan Tokens’ cryptocurrency.

As the cryptocurrency world grows exponentially in its popularity, reaching a current total market cap of just over $3 trillion, it's likely that we'll see more and more people follow in Beckham's footsteps. Could this be the start of the crypto revolution in sport?