Kansas City Chiefs tight end Sean Culkin announced on Monday that he is planning a “long term” investment and will convert his salary into the digital currency Bitcoin if he makes the team’s roster in fall 2021.
“I really spent all of my time in the offseason the past year just hearing about this growing space in crypto,” Culkin told ESPN. “It just seemed like it was getting bigger and bigger.”
Culkin, 27, is slated to be paid $920,000 this season. The price of a bitcoin has fluctuated in recent weeks to all-time-highs of $64,000 per token but was valued at around $55,000 on Tuesday morning. If he converted his entire salary for 2021 on Tuesday, he would own around 16.7 bitcoin.
I fully believe Bitcoin is the future of finance and I wanted to prove that I have real skin in the game — not just trying to make a quick buck. I will be converting my entire 2021 NFL salary to #Bitcoin.
— Sean Culkin (@culkin22) April 26, 2021
Culkin, who joined the Chiefs on a reserve contract in February, told the outlet that his interest in the rising digital currency stems from his “passion for finance and economics” that he developed during his time studying at the University of Missouri, where he played from 2012 to 2017.
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS LOOK TO BENEFIT OFF BITCOIN BOOM
“Early on, I was always exposed to [my father’s] philosophies on what made gold an intractable investment looking at it from a macro perspective. There’s a lot of overlap between gold and Bitcoin,” Culkin said.
The tight end has played in 19 games throughout his four seasons in the NFL and has two catches for 36 yards. Before joining the Chiefs, he spent his first three years with the Los Angeles Chargers and played for the Baltimore Ravens last season.
Culkin’s three-year deal with the Chargers earned him $1.6 million, though he said he has not converted that portion into cryptocurrency, according to Yahoo Sports.
“It’s going to have some large pullbacks, and dips and people are probably going to say I’m crazy, but I’m focusing on the long term,” he said.
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Carolina Panthers offensive lineman Russell Okung became the first NFL player in December to accept Bitcoin for a portion of salary, when the price was only valued at around $27,725 per token.
