Chiefs' Culkin plans to be 1st NFL player to convert entire salary to Bitcoin
Sean Culkin intends to make NFL history in 2021, but it won't be for any of his on-field contributions.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end plans to become the first player to convert his entire salary to 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 signed a reserve/futures contract with the Chiefs in February. If he makes the team's roster, Culkin will be paid $920,000 in U.S. dollars for the upcoming season. He would then convert that to Bitcoin.
"I've always had a lot of interest in and a passion for finance and economics from my days at Mizzou," Culkin said, according to ESPN's Adam Teicher. "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."
Former Carolina Panthers offensive tackle Russell Okung was the first NFL player to convert a portion of his pay to Bitcoin, switching approximately half of his 2020 salary to the cryptocurrency.
Culkin is a four-year veteran. He spent 2017-2019 with the Los Angeles Chargers before signing with the Baltimore Ravens last year.