NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. is taking a victory lap, but not on the field. The Miami Dolphins player took to X, formerly Twitter, to celebrate bitcoin‘s price topping $100,000 in early-December.
Back in 2021 when he signed with the Los Angeles Rams, Beckham struck a deal with Block Inc.’s Cash App to receive his $750,000 salary in bitcoin. The price was $64,158 on the day he converted it, according to The Action Network data cited by Morningstar. The website says if he moved the $750,000 sum all at once into bitcoin, it would be worth about $1,168,900 at bitcoin’s current roughly $100,000 value,
At the time, it was noted how this may have not been a wise financial decision because of the virtual currency’s volatility. MarketWatch asked, “how much did it end up costing him?” Indeed, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency lost 74% of its value from November 2021 to November 2022, justifying some of the critics’ concerns.
However, the recent rebound has pushed the pendulum the other way. “Soooo who said taking my Rams salary in bitcoin was dumb again?” Beckham posted on X in November.
While it is unclear whether the athlete held onto his bitcoin throughout the three-year period, it seems fair to assume his gamble paid off. He also appears to have an endorsement deal with Cash App and last month tweeted, “I’m still partnering with @CashApp to take my salary in bitcoin.”
The story is reminiscent of graffiti artist David Choe’s decision to take his $60,000 payment for painting Facebook’s office in the tech giant’s stock. That was back in 2005. In 2012, Facebook went public and Choe’s stock options were worth over $200 million, according to CNBC.
Sometimes making long-term bets on assets viewed as risky can lead to enormous wealth creation. It can also turn out terribly and be extremely costly, so always take time to determine your own risk tolerance level and maintain a diversified portfolio.
If you have as much faith in Bitcoin as Beckham, here’s how you can invest.
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