Yahoo Sports Chiefs TE Sean Culkin plans to convert entire 2021 salary into Bitcoin
Sean Culkin is all in on crypto this season.
The Kansas Chiefs tight end, should he make their roster this fall, announced Monday that he plans to convert his entire salary into 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
"I've always had a lot of interest in and a passion for finance and economics from my days at Mizzou," Culkin said, via ESPN. "Even before that, my dad was big, really bullish on gold. Early on, I was always exposed to his 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. I really spent all of my time in the offseason the past year just hearing about this growing space in crypto. It just seemed like it was getting bigger and bigger.
"Through education and learning and having a level of conviction over the course of time, I just felt like I wanted to be compensated from my services in football in Bitcoin."
Culkin joined the Chiefs on a reserve/future contract in February. The 27-year-old has appeared in 19 games throughout his four seasons in the league and has two catches for 36 yards. He was on the Baltimore Ravens’ roster last season after spending his first three years in the league with the Los Angeles Chargers.
The former Missouri standout is the first NFL player to publicly announce that he will convert his entire paycheck into cryptocurrency. Former Carolina Panthers lineman Russell Okung said in December that about half of his salary from last season was going to be put into Bitcoin. It’s unknown how many others in the league have invested in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
How much is that worth in Bitcoin?
Culkin still has to make the Chiefs’ roster for his investment to pan out, but he’s looking at putting nearly $1 million into Bitcoin.
Culkin is set to be paid $920,000 this season. As of Monday afternoon, one Bitcoin was worth a little more than $53,000. If he were to convert his paycheck into Bitcoin today — the price will be different when Culkin actually converts his check — he would own about 17.3 Bitcoin.
He previously signed a three-year, $1.6 million deal with the Chargers, but said he hasn’t converted those paychecks into Bitcoin.
"I want to do this with the thought it would continue to rise over the long term," Culkin said, via ESPN. "This for me is a long-term play, a generational play. The more research I did and the more I zoomed out, I didn't necessarily link volatility to risk. I saw Bitcoin was growing at such an exponential rate.
"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. Long term, it's a stored value. What makes Bitcoin so intractable is its scarcity. Over time, it's deflationary by nature. If you look at history, it appreciates over time."
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