Former Arsenal defender Gibbs explains converting part of his salary into Bitcoin
Former Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs has explained why he converted part of his current salary from Inter Miami to Bitcoin and joined other football players in embracing cryptocurrency investing.
Gibbs, now likely at the end of his MLS career, wants to protect his wealth against inflation by putting some of his money into an alternative asset.
And though he resisted telling others to follow his lead, he suggested he wouldn’t be the last to convert his salary to bitcoin.
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What was said?
“You start at the beginning – before we discovered the gold – and you read the story, it fascinated me,” Gibbs told the Daily Mail. “It’s a very powerful technology.
“Without going overboard, look at how many people around the world don’t have access to a bank account. The fact that all you need is the internet and a smartphone [for cryptocurrency].
“Then you have instant access to probably two billion people, services that we’re obviously used to, but not a fifth of the planet.
“If I were to be paid in dollars for the next three years, given the current state of the economy, I would lose about 10% of that amount per year. [through inflation]. But my contract is not increasing.”
Gibbs went on to say that he probably wouldn’t be the last to convert his salary to Bitcoin before saying, “I would never tell anyone what to do. But, by announcing something, at least it raises awareness. And then they can at least learn about it.”
Will it become a trend?
Converting a salary to Bitcoin is a simpler approach to cryptocurrency than that taken by many football players. Rather than delve into the murky world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Gibbs invested directly in an alternative fungible currency.
He is far from the first player to enjoy the benefits of cryptocurrency, as even Lionel Messi received a cryptocurrency bonus in his contract with Paris Saint-Germain last summer.
A prominent US-based player representative said GOAL last year that its customers requested crash courses in cryptocurrency. He said he expects some to get involved in the market in the coming years.
So, despite Bitcoin’s massive swings in value from month to month, Gibbs is likely one of the early adopters of a trend that will continue for years to come.