Athletes that took payments in crypto lost as much as $22 million in recent crash
Most players only get a few years at the top of their game to make their fortune. For a number of major athletes, the excitement of big payouts has quickly turned into a nightmare.
A number of athletes across several of America’s big sporting leagues opted to take various payments, including signing, salary, and transfer fees, in crypto. These players include the NFL’s Trevor Lawrence, Sean Culkin, Russell Okung and Odell Beckham Jr, as well as the NBA’s Andre Iguodala, and football (soccer)’s Ifananyachi Achara and Alex Crognale.
For most of them, these payments were made in Bitcoin. With the recent well-publicised crash of the crypto market, these players have lost as much as 63 per cent of the value of their portfolio. For the biggest loser – Lawrence – that works out at an eye-watering Aus$22 million.
Of course, assuming that they’ve held on to these assets, the value can always bounce back up as the market starts to recover – and remember there are still many that believe that is on the cards.
For now, however, this should be a lesson learned, that crypto should not be a dominant form of payment, and while speculating in crypto assets is something that many would like to do, putting all the money behind speculative assets – or committing to receiving your salary or bonuses with these assets – is something that few would recommend.
