Crypto 24 / 7 News

Carolina Panthers offensive lineman Russell Okung is 141kg and suffers brutal hits on a weekly basis.The 32-year-old is also the smartest man in the NFL when it comes to money.
The two-time Pro Bowl selection created headlines in December when he mischievously claimed to have reached an agreement for half the value of his annual salary to be paid directly in Bitcoin.
It sparked wild rumours and forced the league to review how the contract was structured.
At the end of all the kerfuffle, Okung is a very, very rich man.
A report this week revealed Okung’s $US13million deal with the Panthers is structured for $6.5 million to be paid directly into a Bitcoin fund.
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At the time the contract was announced in December, Bitcoin was valued at US27,000.
It peaked at more than $61,000 this week.
It has pushed the value of that $13million deal to more than $21million.All of a sudden he is one of the 30 highest paid players in the league.
Russell Okung announced in December he was converting half of his $13M salary into Bitcoin.
Bitcoin was $27,000.
Now, with the price at $61,000, @RussellOkung turned his $13M annual salary into over $21M.
This increase makes Okung one of the 30 highest-paid NFL players today.pic.twitter.com/xXX970Ng8H
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) March 13, 2021 Okung’s salary has jumped up and down around the $20million mark in the past two weeks while Bitcoin has fluctuated between $55,000 and $61,000.
The amazing thing is that he’s just getting started.
Having jumped on the rollercoaster and tasted that sweet investment victory, Okung is showing no sign of quitting while he’s ahead.
There was speculation last month Okung could even be among the highest players in the entire league as a result of private side crypto-currency investments that have not been disclosed.
He is certainly riding the wave.
It’s been an incredible week for Bitcoin thus far and…
Guess what? I’m not F$%*ING SELLING! pic.twitter.com/rFTojHAPiH
— russ 💯 (@RussellOkung) February 18, 2021 As reported by The New York Post in December , Okung is still paid in US dollars, but doesn’t see the money until it’s already been converted into crypto.
Okung’s cheque’s are sent via direct deposit to Zap, a start-up that converts traditional salary payments into bitcoin.
Okung tweeted in May 2019 that he wanted to be paid with the digital token.
“Pay me in Bitcoin,” read the simple tweet.
On Tuesday, Okung’s Twitter account was updated to say “Paid in Bitcoin.” He also tweeted a possible motivation for the odd request: “When we are all paid in Bitcoin, no one can tell us what to do with the value we create.”
The value of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency has been boosted by hopes that it will become a more widely used payment method, with mainstream digital payments firms such as PayPal and Square allowing Bitcoin on their platforms.
The digital coin has soared before only to crash back down to earth again, most notably in 2017 when it first neared the $20,000 mark.
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