NFL’s Russell Okung Becomes First US Sports League Player to Be Paid in Bitcoin

After tweeting his demand to be paid in BTC back in May 2019, Russell Okung of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers becomes the first athlete from any major North-American sports league to be paid in Bitcoin (BTC) – a popular crypto-currency. The price of BTC has risen some 273% since Okung’s Tweet.

How Okung’s Salary BTC / FIAT currency Split Works

Okung’s $13 million annual salary is being split fifty-fifty between the bitcoin cryptocurrency and fiat (bank-based currency).

Technically – Okung is still being paid in regular US Dollars/Fiat, however crypto-company “Strike” receives a direct deposit from the Carolina Panthers, and then swaps dollars for Bitcoin via the Lightning network (a secondary system for sending bitcoin in a cheaper and faster manner than using the Bitcoin network itself), and after that the funds go into cold-storage for safety.