Pro Baseball Club Down Under Moves to Bitcoin Standard

NFL players were early movers to be paid in bitcoin. From Carolina’s Russell Okung to Kansas City’s Sean Culkin, players are flocking to bitcoin. Now a similar trend is starting to unfold down under. Aussie baseball club Perth Heat is diving into bitcoin, and they going all-in with a view to make history.

The Western Australian baseball team is offering to pay its players in bitcoin. In addition, the team’s CEO, Steven Nelkovski, will also receive his wages in bitcoin. Perth Heat is using the Lightning Network with payment processor OpenNode for speedy payments. Fans can pay in bitcoin for tickets and products. Plus the team is taking sponsorship deals in bitcoin and holding that BTC on the balance sheet with no plans to move it.

Today our Chief Executive @stevennelkovski had his wage paid in #Bitcoin

The benefits of operating on a #Bitcoin standard. 🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/oDZlnFB2XP

— Perth Heat Baseball (@PerthHeat) November 19, 2021

 

‘Hodl’ Bitcoin

On the Stephan Livera podcast, Nelkovski and the team’s chief bitcoin officer (CBO), Patrick O’Sullivan, discussed how the players are “all in” and have been extremely supportive of moving to a bitcoin standard. One unnamed player has even put in a request to receive five years worth of his salary paid upfront and in bitcoin sooner than later.

Nelkovski encourages teams in other leagues such as Major League Baseball to similarly bring on a chief bitcoin officer to serve as a resource for players. Patrick gave a nod to MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor for writing the playbook on how to handle bitcoin at the corporate level. And like Saylor, the Perth Heat’s strategy is to “hodl” its bitcoin for dear life.

Financial Future

Professional athletes have been some of the early adopters not only of bitcoin but also crypto market niches like NFTs. It is not unusual for highly paid professional athletes to lose it all in the years after their careers have ended. The latest generation of players is seemingly turning to crypto to avoid that same fate.

In the NFL, Aaron Rodgers, quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, recently revealed that he would be taking part of his salary in bitcoin. He is doing so through Square’s Cash App. Also, Tom Brady, quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is behind an NFT platform called Autograph. Tennis star Naomi Osaka is on the board of Autograph and has created an NFT collection.