Ever wonder what Lionel Messi would make per year if he was paid in Bitcoin? A new website ranks top athletes around the world by their salaries’ BTC equivalent.

Bitcoin takes the field

In addition to salary information, BitcoinSalaries.com also notes whether or not a particular athlete is involved in cryptocurrency.

For example, Kobe Bryant, the retired basketball legend from the LA Lakers, spoke at the NiTRON cryptocurrency conference hosted by TRON in January of this year.

Here is a breakdown of some of the athletes, separated by the sport they play, and their annual salary in both Bitcoin and U.S. dollars.

Soccer (Football)

Lionel Messi – 7,117.78 BTC (US$92 million)

Neymar – 5,802.54 BTC ($75 million)

Cristiano Ronaldo – 5,028.87 BTC ($65 million)

Andres Iniesta – 2,321.02 BTC ($30 million)

Kevin De Bruyne – 1,638.53 BTC ($21.178 million)

NFL

Russell Wilson – 6,228.06 BTC ($80.5 million)

Aaron Rodgers – 6,197.1 BTC ($80.1 million)

Ben Roethlisberger – 4,293.88 BTC ($55.5 million)

Khalil Mack – 4,255.20 BTC ($55 million)

DeMarcus Lawrence – 3,628.68 BTC ($46.9 million)

Aaron Donald – 3,164.32 BTC ($40.9 million)

Baseball

Mike Trout – 3,682.68 BTC ($47.6 million)

Steven Strasburgh – 2,965.74 BTC ($38.33 million)

Bryce Harper – 2,939.95 ($38 million)

Manny Machado – 2,653.7 BTC ($34.3 million)

Basketball

Stephen Curry – 2,901.27 BTC ($37.5 million)

LeBron James – 2,896.38 BTC ($37.436 million)

Chris Paul – 2,769.75 BTC ($35.8 million)

Russell Westbrook – 2,762 BTC ($35.7 million)

The website also lists salary information for two non-athletes as well.

One is rapper 50 Cent (2,447.25 BTC) while the other is the man who sold two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins back in 2010.

The pizza guy officially tops the list due to his 10,000 BTC being worth the equivalent of $129,253,700 today.

If you don’t see your favorite athlete or celebrity on the website, there is a form available for you to request his or her addition to the list.

Pro athletes’ increasing interest in crypto

The worlds of sports and cryptocurrency are merging as athletes and sports clubs realize the advantages of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with increasing frequency.

Italy’s Juventus, France’s Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), and Brazil’s Avaí football clubs plan to launch their own crypto “fan tokens”, and last month, Portugal’s S.L. Benfica became the first major European soccer team to accept cryptocurrency payments.

In addition, a number of players in the National Football League (NFL), including quarterback Matt Barkley and offensive tackle Russell Okung, have asked for their salaries to be paid in Bitcoin – a plea that has fallen on deaf ears thus far.

Pay me in Bitcoin. — Russell Okung ???????? (@RussellOkung) May 14, 2019

Then there are athletes promoting cryptocurrency-related products, such as Lionel Messi (spokesman for a secure crypto phone) and Ronaldinho (launched his own cryptocurrency).

Launched earlier this month, Bitcoinsalaries.com currently lists 52 athletes and celebrities, ranked according to their annual salaries.

Note: During the writing of this article, Micky noticed that in some instances – particularly those of NFL football players – athletes’ total contract values were mistakenly being reported as annual salaries and has reached out to BitcoinSalaries.com to notify them.