‘They can get paid in bitcoin as much as they want’: Owner of NBA’s Sacramento Kings offers to pay players in cryptocurrency
Vivek Ranadive, the owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, has announced that the team’s players, coaches and staff members will soon be presented with the option of getting paid in cryptocurrency.
Ranadive made the statement Monday night while appearing on a Clubhouse co-hosted by bitcoin advocates Tim Draper and Bruce Fenton.
He also noted that the team will officially confirm the news later this week.
“I’m going to announce in the next few days that I’m going to offer everyone in the Kings organization, they can get paid as much of their salary in bitcoin as they want, including the players,” the chairman and CEO said, confirming his long-standing aim of making the Kings one of the most crypto-forward sports teams.
The Kings will be the first major sports franchise in the US to use bitcoin for payment. In 2014, it became the first NBA team to allow fans to buy tickets and merchandise in cryptocurrency.
BREAKING: Chairman of the Sacramento Kings:"I'm going to announce in the next few days that I'm going to offer everyone in the Kings organization, they can get paid as much of their salary in #bitcoin as they want, including the players." - @vivek@SacramentoKings@NBA
— Neil Jacobs (@NeilJacobs) April 5, 2021
“When I sold the NBA on keeping the team in Sacramento, my pitch included using the sports franchise as a social network to push the technology envelope,” Ranadive said back in 2014. “This is an example of that.”
Bitcoin has skyrocketed in 2021, reaching an all-time high of more than $60,000 in March.
