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Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. made headlines last November when he announced he would be converting his 2021 NFL salary into bitcoin.
The problem for Beckham: bitcoin
BTCUSD,
prices are plummeting.
Cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ethereum
ETHUSD,
extended their downward slide on Monday. Ether was down 8% over the past 24 hours, and bitcoin prices fell below 35,000, including a 4% drop in the past 24 hours.
This is bad news for crypto investors and Beckham, who claimed to be converting $750,000 into bitcoin in a deal with Square’s
SQ,
payment company Cash App.
The Action Network is reporting that the deal was made on Nov. 12, a day when bitcoin prices were at 64,158, according to CoinDesk — bitcoin prices are down 46.55% since that time.
Based on Monday’s bitcoin prices, and assuming that Beckham put the entire $750,000 in bitcoin when the deal was made in November, his salary would now be worth about $401,500. Despite the drop in value for Beckham’s salary, he will still have to pay taxes on his income as it was given to him, at the $750,000 value.
In addition to federal income tax, Beckham will have to pay state income tax in California, where the Rams play, which has one of the highest state rates in the country. His income qualifies him for a 12.3% tax rate, according to the state’s income bracket.
Because we do not know if Beckham put all of his $750,000 in all at once or spread it apart over multiple conversions, it’s difficult to know the exact dollar figure of Beckham’s losses. If the deposit was made on November 12, that investment is now worth around $35,000 after taxes.
What can be determined for sure, though, is that Beckham would have been better off accepting his salary in U.S. dollars than in bitcoin.
Representatives for Beckham did not verify the terms of Beckham’s bitcoin investment to MarketWatch.
See also: ‘Are you guys into crypto?’— Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather Jr. sued in alleged crypto scam
Beckham joins a long list of NFL players who have accepted deals in crypto or who have converted a portion of their salary into cryptocurrency, including Saquon Barkley, Trevor Lawrence and Russell Okung.
The sliding prices for cryptocurrencies come as panic-like selling emerged on Monday with the stock market tumbling and the Dow dropping over 1,000 points as of mid-afternoon.
