Photo: Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. on Jan. 17, 2022, in Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
Celebrities and politicians are jumping on board to be paid in Bitcoin despite the risks of losing money and NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. found out the hard way. The Los Angeles Rams football player was one of the first high-profile names to collect his salary in Bitcoin.
The three-time Pro Super Bowler has lost a ton of his playing salary after deciding to take his roughly $4.25-million ($750,000 guaranteed) earnings in Bitcoin for the 2021-2022 season, TotalProSports reported.
Bitcoin is highly volatile. As you already saw, the Bitcoin crash has already seen an insane 40 percent drop in the coin’s value from its 2021 high of around $69,000. Ethereum (ETH) also dropped below its so-called support level of $3,000, with other lesser-known cryptocurrencies dropping as much as 30 percent, Tech Times reported.
When Beckham signed his one-year contract last year, Bitcoin was worth $64,293. It dipped below $35,000 on Jan. 24 and is now trading at about $37,213.92. Beckham’s guaranteed salary has been worth just $412,953 (since he took all of it in Bitcoin).
“The amount of people applauding players changing their salary into Bitcoin as if they were heroes has been comical. Rams WR Odell Beckham Jr., at least in the moment, provides a cautionary tale,” tweeted sports business analyst Darren Rovell, who works for The Action NetworkRovell, with a breakdown of Beckham’s Bitcoin salary figures.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 74: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin returns for a new season of the GHOGH podcast to discuss Bitcoin, bubbles, and Biden. He talks about the risk factors for Bitcoin as an investment asset including origin risk, speculative market structure, regulatory, and environment. Are broader financial markets in a massive speculative bubble?
When Beckham’s 50.3 percent federal and state tax rate is taken out of the original $750,000, the Rams’ wide receiver reportedly only made a tiny $35,703 from his one-year contract, according to Rovell.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who declared he would take his first three checks in bitcoin, has also lost money. During the period he collected his first paycheck, Bitcoin saw a 50 percent drawdown from all-time highs.
Adams has effectively received 15 percent less on his first wages, Coin Telegraph reported. It is estimated that Adams lost about $1,000 on his first gross biweekly paycheck of $9,924.66, Bloomberg reported.
“Eric Adams has now lost $1393.20 of his $9951.92 paycheck by converting it to Bitcoin last Friday,” tweeted Max RN (@MaxRivlinNadler) about Adams’ first paycheck that he received on Jan. 21.
Photo: Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. during an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Arizona Cardinals Jan. 17, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
