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- NBA All-Stars Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala will receive part of their NBA salary in bitcoin in new deal with Jack Dorsey’s Cash App.
- The basketball stars announced the collaboration on Twitter, and will each donate $1 million in bitcoin to fans.
- The Golden State Warriors stars join the likes of Aaron Rodgers and Odell Beckham Jr. as the latest pro athletes to take a salary in crypto.
Golden State Warriors’ stars Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala have agreed to receive part of their basketball salary in bitcoin as part of a new collaboration with Jack Dorsey’s Cash App.
Thompson — who returned to play this past Sunday in his first game in over 900 days — took to Twitter to announce his crypto support and plans to donate $1 million in bitcoin to fans. “I’m with bitcoin because I believe it’s the future of money,” Thompson wrote.
Iguodala did the same: “I’m taking part of my salary in BITCOIN w. Cash App! Bitcoin is the future, Klay Thompson and I are both believers.”
The two All-Stars will use Cash App, which is owned by crypto-bull Dorsey’s financial services company Block, to facilitate the conversion of their salaries as well as the bitcoin giveaways.
Thompson and Iguodala, who together won multiple championships with the Golden State Warriors, are the two latest examples amid a slew of professional athletes receiving compensation in cryptocurrency.
Star NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers promoted his own bitcoin salary after also teaming up with Cash App, and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. also announced a similar setup. Last April, the Sacramento Kings owner said players and staff will be able to get their salary paid in bitcoin.
In March 2021, Cash App enabled its users to send and receive bitcoin with no fees on transactions, and announced a similar $1 million bitcoin giveaway. More recently, Cash App launched a new tool allowing customers to send fractional shares of stock and bitcoin directly to other users.
Bitcoin surged in 2021 to a $3 trillion market cap, but the recent crypto bear market has dragged it down toward $2 trillion. Since peaking at about $69,000 in November, the most popular cryptocurrency in the world has plunged nearly 40%.