One of the most popular trends over the past year in sports has been athletes taking all or some of their contract or endorsement deals in bitcoin. With the recent crash in cryptocurrency, it turns out that spending that money at the best online casino may have been a better investment.
All investing contains a risk of loss, but bitcoin looked as about as sure of a thing as possible. These athletes were seeing amazing and continuous ROI, but as many people across the globe of all tax brackets found out, there are peaks – and there are valleys.
Did Trevor Lawrence Lose His Signing Bonus?
The main story that has put talks of athletes losing money in bitcoin investments to the forefront was a blog from Barstool Sports titled, “Trevor Lawrence Turned His $24 Million Signing Bonus Into $9 Million By Getting It All in Crypto.” That’s a sensational headline, but also not true.
The confusion about the Jacksonville Jaguars QB and his finances comes from an April 2021 USA Today article titled, “Trevor Lawrence partners with Blockfolio, will have signing bonus placed into cryptocurrency account”
Lawrence did have a signing bonus put into his cryptocurrency account, just not his NFL signing bonus. The investment company Blockfolio gave a portion of their endorsement contract to Lawrence in the form of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the lesser-known Solana.
Had Lawrence taken his $24 million NFL signing bonus in Bitcoin and other cryptos, that would definitely be a big story, as it would be a -62% loss following the recent crash. The second-year QB does have a multi-year deal with Blockfolio that may not end up being as lucrative as it appeared at last year’s draft, but he’s at the very least not out $15 million of his NFL money.
Saquon Barkley, Russell Okung May Have Taken a Hit
The Spring of 2021 seems like a long time ago, especially to NFL offensive lineman Russell Okung. The veteran decided before the 2020 season that he wanted half of his new $13 million, one-year deal with Carolina to be paid in Bitcoin.
When Okung got paid his $6.5 million in cryptocurrency when it had a dollar equivalency of $27,000. Since Okung’s deposit, BTC rose to an all-time high of $61,000, meaning the lineman’s gamble more than doubled his money – at one point. Bitcoin is down to around $20,000, meaning Okung may have lost on his investment.
Of course, nobody knows if Okung kept his entire bitcoin investment ‘in’ during the crash or cashed out along the way. At one point, his $13 million total signing bonus was actually valued at nearly $27 million, so there’s a good chance he converted some of that back to USD. If not, the 11-year veteran has also made over $100 million dollars in earnings so he should be fine.
Saquon Barkley is another of numerous NFL players to get in on Bitcoin when he announced in July of 2021 that he would be taking all future endorsement contracts in cryptocurrency. His two major sponsors, Nike and Pepsi, have deals totaling around $10 million, meaning the Giants RB may have lost $3 million to $4 million on his gamble.
There are numerous reports of other athletes getting hurt on the crypto plummet. Odell Beckham, Jr. took his entire $750,000 contract in Bitcoin when he signed with the Rams last season, but at the same time, winning a Super Bowl also opened up a lot of endorsement opportunities.
Andre Iguodala took half of his final $2 million contract with the Warriors in BTC, but is also now a 4X NBA champion with close to $200 million in career earnings.
Most of these athletes will be fine, something a lot of other investors around the globe cannot say. That’s why it’s always important to diversify, because there are going to be storms to ride out.
