NFL Linebacker Russell Okung
Russell Okung
Bitcoin is greater than only a ardour for NFL linebacker, Russell Okung.
It’s a lifestyle.
Beginning in 2016, Okung co-founded the Larger Basis, with the mission of equipping the following technology with the financial and social instruments to succeed in their highest potential. In Could 2019, he tweeted “Pay me in bitcoin,” sparking pleasure over the crypto twitter airwaves, although his requests have been in the end denied.
Most lately, Okung launched Okung Ventures, backing Bitcoin loyalty startup, Fold.
I spoke to Okung about his views on bitcoin, financial entry and democratization, his funding in Fold, and what he believes is coming subsequent within the crypto house.
SR: Why did you put money into Fold and what promise do you see in Fold’s bitcoin cash-back rewards card?
RO: I imagine bitcoin is one of the simplest ways to empower folks with management over their very own worth, and so my predominant standards for investing in bitcoin corporations is that they simplify the onboarding course of for bitcoin rookies. The Fold Visa
V
card creates a very new solution to take part within the bitcoin economic system which does not require folks to alter their spending habits and even take any monetary dangers earlier than they will begin accumulating bitcoin.
Fold’s New Visa Bitcoin Again Debit Card
Fold
Fold, the app that enables customers to earn bitcoin when buying at retailers, introduced on April 9, that it was launching a co-branded Visa card that enables customers to earn bitcoin rewards. Shoppers will be capable of use the Fold card to spend {dollars} and earn bitcoin again on each buy made with the cardboard, drastically decreasing the barrier to entry to bitcoin adoption.
SR: What is required for bitcoin to succeed in mainstream adoption and the way is Fold furthering that intention?
RO: Easy instruments that incentivize the common individual to have interaction with bitcoin with out having to do an excessive amount of work. Most individuals don’t have the time or power to analysis the entire attainable implications of sound cash, however you begin providing them free cash each time they store at Amazon
AMZN
and Uber like Fold does? Now we’re speaking.
To Fold’s prospects, bitcoin could also be most well-liked over airline miles, loyalty factors, and different store-specific rewards packages. Since bitcoin has no expiration date, the rewards can be utilized to offset the price of a client’s subsequent buy, saved, or withdrawn—giving customers freedom and adaptability. Shoppers can even spend from their bitcoin rewards by buying fiat-denominated present playing cards for retailers on the Fold app to make use of on their subsequent buy or permit the worth to build up like they might in a financial savings account.
Fold Bitcoin Financial savings
Fold
SR: What position do you envision bitcoin will play sooner or later economic system and why do you imagine increasing adoption is essential?
RO: Bitcoin modifications the whole lot. As financial uncertainty continues to take its toll on our on a regular basis lives, I imagine we’ll see an increasing number of folks expertise a shift in how they relate to cash. Bitcoin presents us a sensible answer to beat the upcoming demise of the legacy monetary system.
The launch of the Fold Card represents an vital milestone within the maturation of the cryptocurrency trade. Like its app, Fold goals to make bitcoin enjoyable and accessible to everybody. It features the identical as some other card with the additional benefit of incomes bitcoin again on each buy.
SR: The rest you’d prefer to share that could be of curiosity?
RO: Final yr I tweeted “Pay Me in Bitcoin” as a result of I imagine that discovering extra methods to EARN bitcoin is simply as vital as getting extra folks excited about merely shopping for bitcoin. That is one other facet of Fold that I’m enthusiastic about: if you end up rewarded with bitcoin, it is one other alternative to look at your relationship to cash and preserve asking deeper questions on financial realities we are likely to ignore.
SR: Thanks.
Athletes are not any strangers to bitcoin. As written on this 2019 Ballers and Bitcoin piece, “Georgia Tech began accepting Bitcoin for its stadium concession gross sales in 2014. Marshawn Lynch, former Seattle Seahawks operating again and Superbowl XLVIII Champion, invested in a blockchain company in 2015. His teammate, Richard Sherman, started accepting Bitcoin for merchandise on his website as early as 2014.”
Whereas many corporations, athletes, and entrepreneurs have sought to discover the expertise for ticket purchases and authentication, merchandise, memorability, sports activities betting and stadium concessions, few have tackled bitcoin adoption head-on.
Okung’s funding in Fold, nonetheless, represents maybe the primary instance of an athlete backing an organization that goals to get bitcoin instantly within the arms of people by incomes, not shopping for, marking a step on the journey to mainstream adoption.
Signups for early entry to the Visa card can be found on the Fold website,
