Sean Culkin will be the first NFL player to convert all of his salary to Bitcoin if he makes the the Kansas City Chiefs’ roster to begin this season.
The tight end, who is vying to be a backup behind starter Travis Kelce, would be paid his $920,000 salary by the Chiefs in U.S. dollars but in turn will convert it 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. “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 has caught two passes for the Los Angeles Chargers and Baltimore Ravens in 19 games played in the NFL.
“I want to do this with the thought it would continue to rise over the long term,” he said. “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.”
Culkin joined the Chiefs on a reserve/future contract in February.
