Research by Messari has revealed that the top pro athletes and sports personnel can earn more if they are paid in Bitcoin which would result in rapid crypto mass adoption.
One Los Angeles Chargers NFL player, Russell Okung, is pushing relentlessly for the league to adopt Bitcoin. He wants the payments for the players’ multi-million-dollar salaries to be disbursed in BTC. Currently, he seems to be football’s biggest Bitcoin advocate. He undoubtedly is bringing attention to crypto across most professional sports.
Okung will host a Bitcoin event in September to enhance mainstream adoption. He tweeted out a piece of Messari research that focuses on how neatly cryptocurrency and pro sports fit together.
— OKUNG 🐆 (@RussellOkung) August 23, 2019
Lionel Messi of Barcelona is known as the best-paid player in the world. Messari research reported that Massi’s salary would be around “12,700 $BTC” annually. That figure is based on the BTC price at the time of that research. Currently, Bitcoin is trading around $10,350 per coin.
According to Forbes, Messi took home $111 million last year. That places him at the top of the soccer high-earners. 2019 earnings are looking like $127 million. If you are not a professional sports enthusiast, there is a plan B to earn Bitcoin. The Messari research reveals that Messi’s yearly income is almost as much as BTC miners make in a week from the block rewards.
Christiano Ronaldo, a Juventus forward player, is not that far behind Messi in the earning charts. The same Messari research suggests that Ronaldo can take home a staggering 10,000 Bitcoins annually. That figure corresponds to his current eye-popping annual earnings of $109 million. ESPN cited Ronaldo stating that a player of his calibre and skill level would be worth €300 million in the current market.
The Rivalry and Developments
According to Ronaldo, his rivalry with Messi has only made both of them better players. He was quoted saying:
“It is a good rivalry that exists in football, but this is no exception. Michael Jordan had rivals in basketball, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were great rivals in Formula 1, and the only common point between all the big rivalries in the sport is that they are healthy. Messi makes me a better player and vice versa.”
Other pro athletes in the list include Brazilian star player Neymar Jr. together with NBA’s Stephen Curry, Lebron James, and Kevin Durant. Also, NFL’s Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers have made it to this elite list.
Any of these leagues may become the pioneers in diving into crypto and pay their players in Bitcoin. These major leagues have sampled crypto in one way or another. In the past, they have launched crypto digital collectibles and even accepted crypto for ticket payments.
If they plan to dive in, they should make the move as soon as possible since Bitcoin could start its next Bull Run soon. Okung’s Bitcoin seminar for the crypto rookies will take place in early September.
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