Remember 2021? Spider-Man was lost in the Multiverse, everyone was obsessed with Wordle, and NFL superstar Odell Beckham Jr. (OBJ) decided to do something that made the internet’s collective head explode: he took his entire $750,000 Rams salary in Bitcoin.
At the time, Bitcoin was strutting around at $64,000. Within months, the crypto market pulled a “Titanic,” and BTC sank toward $16,000. The internet, as it usually does, was ready with the pitchforks and mock the hell out of someone who did something unconventional.
Odell Beckham Jr. claps back at haters after Bitcoin salary skyrockets in value
For two years, the headlines were brutal. “OBJ is playing for free!” screamed the pundits. Financial “experts” on YouTube did the math, claiming that after taxes and the price crash, Odell actually the government money for the privilege of catching touchdowns.
Then came the viral fan fiction. Rumors started swirling that OBJ was filing for bankruptcy, that his Lambos were being repossessed, and that he was seen putting a “Student Driver” sticker on a 2009 Honda Accord just to get to practice. It was the ultimate “humbling” narrative the internet loves to feed on.
Fast forward to March 2026. If you haven’t checked the charts lately, you might want to sit down.
Bitcoin didn’t go to zero. Instead, it went on a tear, smashing past $100,000 in late 2025 and currently sitting comfortably between $75,000 and $80,000.
That “worthless” $750,000 paycheck? If Odell held onto those coins (which he’s hinted on X that he has), that single salary is now worth roughly $1. 4 million.
He didn’t just get paid, he effectively gave himself a 100% raise by doing absolutely nothing but ignoring the haters. An important lesson in life that one should only listen to their gut/insticnt and do what feels right at the moment.
While the “repossessed Honda” story makes for a great TikTok caption, the reality is much more boring (and much richer). OBJ didn’t go broke, he just had a higher risk tolerance than the people mocking him from their keyboards.
Recently, Odell took to social media to settle the score, simply asking:
The silence from the critics is deafening. It turns out that while the internet was busy drafting his bankruptcy papers, Odell was busy waiting for the moon.
