NFL star converts half of salary to Bitcoin via Lightning Network

NFL star Russell Okung began automatically converting half of his annual salary, amounting to $13 million, into Bitcoin, using the Strike service from the Zap startup.

“Pay me in Bitcoin,” said the Carolina Panthers’ offensive tackle in May last year.

On Tuesday, December 29, he followed up, saying that he had already received payment in cryptocurrency.

Paid in Bitcoin. https://t.co/Ey6oOcmLjA

— russ (@RussellOkung) December 29, 2020

Some media outlets rushed to report that Okung is paid in Bitcoin; that is not entirely accurate.

In a comment to CoinDesk, Zap founder Jack Mallers said that the player continues to receive his salary in US dollars, but converts 50% of the funds into Bitcoin via the Lightning Network to a cold wallet.

“Other professional athletes, basketball players for the Brooklyn Nets and baseball players for the New York Yankees have also begun to join the program,” Mallers added.

Strike enables automated conversion of traditional salaries into Bitcoin, paying Lightning invoices using only bank cards, without wallets or other traditional Lightning Network solutions.

Zap launched the service in January 2020, and in July, in partnership with Visa, began its open beta testing.

According to Mallers, Strike processes “seven-figure sums” each month, and he expects transaction volumes to grow.

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