Expected top NFL draft pick Trevor Lawrence reportedly signed an endorsement deal with crypto-investment app Blockfolio - and took his first payment in crypto tokens
- Trevor Lawrence has signed a multiyear deal with investment app Blockfolio, DealBook first reported Monday.
- He was paid exclusively in cryptocurrency that was immediately transferred to his Blockfolio account.
- A company spokesman said the payment was already worth more on Sunday compared to when it was deposited on Friday.
Trevor Lawrence, the expected top pick in the upcoming 2021 NFL Draft, has signed a multiyear deal with investment app Blockfolio and was paid exclusively in cryptocurrency, DealBook first reported Monday.
The first payment to the football star -a mixture of bitcoin, ethereum, and solana - was immediately transferred to his Blockfolio account. Future payments, however, are subject to whatever combination of dollars and cryptocurrencies from the initial basket the former Clemson quarterback desires, according to DealBook.
Other terms of the agreement were not disclosed but a company spokesman revealed that the crypto signing bonus was already worth more on Sunday compared to when it was deposited on Friday.
The football player also made the announcement on Twitter, saying he is "pumped" to join the startup.
"We're really trying to get our name out a lot," Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, a crypto exchange that acquired Blockfolio, told Dealbook. "Trevor was excited about crypto. That's what drew us to him."
Bankman-Fried founded Blockfolio in 2019. Prior to that, the 29-year-old, a former trader at quant-trading firm Jane Street, started a crypto-trading firm called Alameda Research, which launched him to billionaire status.
Given that the cryptocurrency firm, which considers Coinbase as its rival, is relatively new, the company has been trying to partner with bigger brands to garner name recognition.
Under a recent $135-million deal, Blockfolio won naming rights to the NBA's Miami Heat arena for 19 years, overtaking American Airlines as the leading sponsor for the Florida sports team.