In November 2021, Odell Beckham Jr. made headlines by signing a $750,000 one-year contract with the Los Angeles Rams and declaring he would accept his pay in Bitcoin. While his salary was technically deposited in U.S. dollars, like any other NFL player, he used a third-party platform to convert those funds into Bitcoin.

At the time of this conversion, Bitcoin was valued at $64,293 per coin. This meant Beckham’s $750,000 translated into roughly 11.66 Bitcoin.

Initially, by mid-2022, the decision appeared to have backfired as Bitcoin’s value plummeted to $17,000. However, by July 2025, the cryptocurrency market had rebounded spectacularly. On July 14, 2025, Bitcoin soared to a record high of $120,214, prompting Beckham to share a screenshot of the price with a knowing caption on Twitter.

At that peak, his 11.66 Bitcoin was valued around $1.4 million. After accounting for $377,000 in taxes on his original salary, Beckham was hypothetically more than $1 million in profit. It seemed one of his shrewdest financial decisions. But jump to six months later…

Lets see what crypto week talkin about 👀 pic.twitter.com/5I0uNV5zao

As of this writing (February 5, 2026, at 11:30 am PST), Bitcoin’s value has dropped to $65,717.50. This marks a more than 45% decline from its July summit. In just the past few days, Bitcoin has decreased over 10%, dipping below $66,000 for the first time since late 2024. This decline isn’t isolated; it reflects a significant downturn across the cryptocurrency market.

The driving force behind this collapse, as noted by market experts, is a shift by investors away from riskier assets like cryptocurrency and tech stocks, toward traditional secure investments such as gold and government bonds. Gold has climbed over 14% this year, skyrocketing nearly 70% since Bitcoin’s peak in October 2024, while Bitcoin has seen its value nearly halve in just four months.

Bryan Bennett/Getty Images

Crypto Crash

As I type this article (February 5, 2026, at 11:30 am PST), Bitcoin is trading at $65,717.50. That’s down more than 45% from its July peak. Just in the past few days alone, it’s dropped more than 10%, falling below $66,000 for the first time since late 2024. And this isn’t just a blip—it’s part of a broader, brutal downturn across the entire crypto sector.

What’s driving the collapse? According to market analysts, investors have been fleeing riskier assets like crypto and tech stocks, rotating instead into traditional safe-haven assets like gold and government bonds. Gold is up over 14% year-to-date, and has surged nearly 70% since Bitcoin’s October 2024 peak. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has lost almost half its value in just four months.

Even worse: Bitcoin has now fallen below the average entry price for many U.S. Bitcoin ETF investors, and corporate whales like Strategy—who accumulated over 713,000 BTC at an average price of $76,000—are now sitting deep underwater. Shares of crypto-adjacent companies like Coinbase, Circle, and Robinhood have plummeted alongside Bitcoin itself.

Prominent investor Michael Burry, best known for shorting the housing market before the 2008 crash, didn’t hold back. In a recent Substack post, he described the current plunge as a “sickening scenario” and warned that Bitcoin may be entering a “death spiral.”

And then there’s the regulatory backdrop. While the White House has publicly supported crypto innovation, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed last week that the government has no authority—or intent—to bail out the industry. With interest rates staying high and Congress still slow-walking crypto legislation, investors are left without much of a safety net.

All of that makes Odell Beckham Jr.’s once-glowing $1.4 million crypto balance look a whole lot shakier.

Updated Math: From $1.4 Million to a Modest Gain

At today’s price of $65,717.50, Beckham’s 11.66 Bitcoin is worth $766,363. That’s still above his original $750,000 conversion, but not by much—and certainly not after taxes.

As a reminder, when he received that $750,000 from the Rams in 2021, Beckham was still liable for full federal and California state taxes on the income. That tax bill totaled approximately $377,000, regardless of what happened to Bitcoin afterward.

So, even though his BTC holdings are still in the green on paper, after subtracting the taxes he already paid, Odell’s post-tax gain stands at just $389,363. That’s a sharp comedown from the $1.025 million gain he was sitting on last July.

The bottom line? He’s not underwater, but he’s now only up around $12,000 from where he started four years ago.