It’s no secret that many high profile athletes and celebrities have had their name affiliated with blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and other digital assets over the past several years. Namely, a number of the world’s most renowned people such as Tom Brady have even appeared as heavy ambassadors for crypto brands in ads, promotional efforts, and even partnerships backing different types of digital assets.
To take it a step further, in 2021, there were several professional athletes who announced they would even more closely tied to blockchain and cryptocurrency through their actual income. For example, Saquon Barkley, then New York Giants running back and current Philadelphia Eagles playmaker, revealed that he would be converting all of his endorsement income into bitcoin, a form of digital currency that aims to eliminate the need for central authorities such as banks or governments by way of using blockchain technology to support peer-to-peer transactions between users on a decentralized network. Others, such as Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones, opted to purchase an equity stake in an Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) exchange. NFTs are a blockchain technology (a type of digital asset) meant to provide consumers direct ownership of digital and physical items that can represent and authenticate particular items (i.e. videos, GIFs, digital trading cards, music, art, etc.).
To take it even further than that, then Kansas City Chiefs tight end, no not Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce, but undrafted practice squad member Sean Culkin, stated he would be converting his entire NFL salary into Bitcoin. Culkin had a short career and was cut by the Chiefs a couple weeks later.
The main reason many athletes decided to put their money where the blockchain was simple – the relative brevity and uncertainty of their sports career. And while the trend of putting much of an individual’s salary into crypto or blockchain has cooled off a bit in light of the FTX collapse and other volatility exposure, the prospect of that picking back up in our tech-based world could certainly come back into the playing field.
But why would someone want their income to be converted directly into cryptocurrency? One reason was discussed in a recent Layer 1 meeting, which is essentially that as blockchain continues to develop, the versatility of cryptocurrencies is expanding which provides more incentive to primarily use this transformative source. As more people and entities utilize cryptocurrencies, individuals – and even companies by way of a payroll source – may decide to seek compensation through blockchain-related payment.
There are definitely some hurdles outside of the inherent risk including but not limited to ensuring legal compliance, ensuring tax reporting is adhered to, and other possible limitations in markets where the currency may not be mainstream.
However, with the growing awareness of digital assets, crypto income may make its way back into the fold as privacy, security, versatility, direct investment generation, and possibly less fees all offer renewed incentive to seek compensation through blockchain/cryptocurrencies.
Tom Brady is unlikely to partner with a company similar to FTX again, but he has been extremely vocal about technology’s role in our current ecosystem and how blockchain will play into that.
Layer 1, whose mission is to create a global stage for incubating and promoting the best blockchain ideas, can further attest to Brady’s advocacy. L1 continues to follow and discuss the latest developments, including what we may see with a resurgence of crypto compensation.
Post Date: May 7, 2024