• A three-year sponsorship with Luno will see Vodacom Bulls players receive performance incentives paid in cryptocurrency.
• Cryptocurrency was recently declared a financial product by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority.
• NFL player Odell Beckham Jr. took his salary in cryptocurrency and started losing money thanks to a drop in Bitcoin’s value.

UPDATE 26th October

Over 24 hours after publication of this story Luno has provided some clarity on this sponsorship agreement.

For one, the Bitcoin incentive will be paid to the Vodacom Bulls team rather than individual players. The management team will then decide who qualifies for the incentive. In addition, this Bitcoin incentive is in addition to any remuneration agreements in place between players and Vodacom Bulls and does not replace anything in those agreements.

Luno’s South Africa Country Manager Christo de Wit also said that the incentive amount is paid in Rands rather than Bitcoin.

Original story below.

We’re not saying that this is a good idea but, Vodacom Bulls players will now be able to earn performance incentives, in cryptocurrency.

This is thanks to a three-year sponsorship deal with locally founded cryptocurrency exchange Luno.

This is just weird to us. While Luno does sponsor the rugby team, paying incentives in cryptocurrency is strange given that there isn’t really a way to spend it locally. Sure, one could argue it’s an investment vehicle but the same argument could be made that it isn’t.

While cryptocurrency is now on the path to regulation having been declared a financial product by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, we don’t see retailers chomping at the bit to incorporate Dogecoin into their payment options.

In addition, the volatility of cryptocurrency combined with the ongoing crypto winter has us wondering how the players feel about this.

The CEO of Vodacom Bulls Edgar Rathbone and Luno country manager for South Africa Christo de Wit did make statements but they’re not really of value as they’re mostly PR guff.

While it may seem strange, being paid in crypto has happened in sports before.

Earlier this year Yahoo Finance reported that New York City Mayor Eric Adams vowed to take his first three pay cheques in Bitcoin. NFL player Odell Beckham Jr. took his entire NFL salary in Bitcoin as well.

That is a very risky move given the volatility of cryptocurrency and Beckham Jr. realised this when his salary went from $750 000 to $413 000 according to Hypebeast. All thanks to Bitcoin’s drop in value.

It’s not clear whether Vodacom Bulls players will have a choice in whether they receive their performance incentives in cryptocurrency or regular old Rands. We’ve fired off a barrage of questions to Luno about this sponsorship. We will update this story should we receive a response.