Richard Sherman is Introducing the NFL to Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies
By: Mike Murphy
Tags: Crypto, Sports, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

Richard Sherman, the All-Pro cornerback for the San Francisco 49ers, found himself sidelined with an injury during the Seahawks’ (Sherman’s former team) 2017 playoff run. It was the first time in his career that he was unable to play all 16 games in the regular season including the postseason.

But the injury may have come as a blessing in disguise because Sherman needed to find something to do while he occupied his time outside of rehabbing his injuries. He decided to look at investing in cryptocurrencies.

“I’ve begun to work hard to stimulate myself mentally by educating myself on how blockchain and cryptocurrencies are bringing unprecedented change to the world,” Sherman wrote in a blog post from January 2018. “This world isn’t new to me, I first got involved with cryptos over five years ago and began accepting bitcoin long before people were campaigning for Amazon to allow virtual currencies as a payment method.”

Sherman, a 2010 Stanford graduate with a degree in communication, has made over $20,000 in crypto trading per Time.com.

In 2014, Sherman allowed customers who purchased merchandise off his website to pay in crypto or fiat currencies. Sherman made a mistake by selling the cryptocurrencies he earned in 2014, by converting them to cash. And he knew he missed out on a golden opportunity when Bitcoin rose to $20,000 in 2017.

More recently, Sherman became a spokesperson for Coinhood, a cryptocurrency exchange with zero transaction fees. An issue Sherman urged people in the crypto sector to address.

“One of the biggest issues crypto faces today are the expensive fees that weigh on traders when exchanging currencies,” Sherman said. “The popular trading platform, Coinbase, charges around 4% of fees on most transactions. While 4% doesn’t seem astronomical, at the current price of $14,699 for one bitcoin, we are talking a nasty surcharge of $587.”

It won’t be long before professional athletes in all sports start to ask for cryptocurrency as a form of payment, and even before that, we may see teams adopt Smart Contract technology to replace paper contracts.

“The NFL has done a great job of opening its doors,” Sherman said about the league bringing in financial experts to speak with players. “That is how a lot of players are getting their information and becoming educated on the subject of money management.”

Now more players in the NFL, including those found in the same locker room as Sherman, are talking about investing in digital currencies and other blockchain-powered ICOs.

“Especially the way bitcoin boomed from nothing to … $19,000 at one point, that really caught the eye of a lot of people,” Sherman told CNBC. “Ever since then it has been a common conversation for a lot of us.”

And now Sherman — who has invested in Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Etherum — has an off-the-field goal for this year to become an expert in the crypto sector, as he’ll try to avoid not missing out on the next big rise in the crypto marketplace.

“During my time off the field, I have learned that our increasingly digital world is evolving into something that many cannot comprehend,” Sherman added in his blog. “I am excited to see the rise of a new next-generation cryptocurrency and see what 2018 has in store for Bitcoin, Ripple, ETC, etc.

“My biggest 2018 goal is to become an expert in the crypto and blockchain space and I expect big growth from it all.”