NFL Tackle Russel Okung and Strike on Tuesday announced a partnership that will pay a significant portion of Okung’s $ 13 million NFL salary in bitcoin.
Last May, Okung urged its former and current NFL teams to pay him in bitcoin. After reaching out to the Strike Founder Jack Mallers and working with the Carolina Panthers front office, it’s a reality now.
Okung tells Bitcoin Magazine in September last year that in a meeting with Ed McGuire, the Charger’s executive vice president of football administration and player funding, he drew blank glances when he brought up bitcoin. “I asked if they could pay me in bitcoin,” he recalls. ‘With this stoic face he looks at me and says,’ What is bitcoin? ‘
With this announcement, Okung becomes the first professional athlete to receive bitcoin as payment for his labor in the field.
For Okung, it’s about taking back power. By being paid in bitcoin, he can now regain ‘power that is right from us’. He also poured his time and energy into Bitcoin Is_, a project designed “to meet people where they are and unpack bitcoin in a simple way,” he described. Bitcoin Magazine.
Mallers shared with us that several athletes from the NBA, MLB and NFL are on board to be paid in bitcoin and that they have even been contacted by several Billboard Top 500 artists about receiving a portion of their salaries in bitcoin.
This announcement goes beyond Okung and his team. Today, Strike offers early access to users for this payday solution on payday.strike.me.
