In 2020, previous Carolina Panthers offensive deal with Russell Okung made headings by working out to have half of his $13 million NFL agreement for the 2020 season paid in Bitcoin.
Today, that move has actually settled, with the worth of Okung's BTC now approximated at $21 million, thanks to the current rise in the property's costs.
$21 Million Payout
While he was not paid in cryptocurrency, the Panthers transformed $6.5 countless his income through Strike, a monetary service from Zap that assisted in the purchase of Bitcoin with his funds. This relocation made Okung among the very first prominent expert athletes to get a significant part of his earnings in Bitcoin.
The digital property was trading at around $27,000 at the time of his financial investment. With his $6.5 million, Okung obtained around 240 BTC, a relocation considered as a substantial monetary danger given that the cryptocurrency was still in a development stage and was understood for its unpredictable cost swings.
In late 2022, the cryptocurrency experienced among its more extreme recessions, dropping to around $17,000. This indicates the 36-year-old's financial investment briefly lost considerable worth, reducing to around $4.08 million. Okung chose to hold onto his stash.
Following the U.S. governmental election in November 2024, BTC costs rose drastically, reaching an all-time high of over $83,000. Since today, bitcoin is around $88,000, appreciating Okung's preliminary 240 BTC to around $21.36 million.
This boost efficiently increases the overall worth of his Panthers agreement to around $27.8 million, suggesting Okung's choice to invest half his income in Bitcoin has actually caused an extra $14.8 million in worth.
The previous offensive deal with, who retired from expert football in 2023, just recently required to social networks to share his win, stating, “Results silence all disputes.”
Surprisingly, the previous gamer, who is presently fronting an effort called Bitball that promotes paying professional athletes in BTC, has actually shown that he will not be capitalizing his windfall at any time quickly. “How long will I hold Bitcoin? Okay, for how long do I prepare to breathe?” Okung stated in a November 14 post on X.
the length of time will i hold bitcoin? fine, for how long do i strategy to breathe? https://t.co/em2zLo3cqY
— OKUNG (@RussellOkung) November 13, 2024
Trump's Election Win Aftermath
Bitcoin's current cost rally followed Donald Trump's success in the 2024 U.S. governmental election. The rally brought in significant inflows into digital properties, with the OG cryptocurrency alone drawing in $1.8 billion, according to CoinShares' Digital Asset Fund Flows weekly report.
The rally extended beyond Bitcoin, with Ethereum acquiring $157 million in inflows and significant activity amongst altcoins like Solana, Uniswap, XRP, and Tron.
In general, the overall cryptocurrency market capitalization reached a brand-new all-time high of $3.12 trillion in early Asian trading on Tuesday, Nov. 12. This went beyond the previous record of $3.08 trillion set almost 3 years earlier in November 2021.
