A former NFL player is getting into digital assets

by Arthur · October 6, 2022

When things don’t go as planned in your career, it’s about finding opportunities on other fields, according to Lewis Neal, a former National Football League (NFL) defensive tackle.

Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Blockchain Economy Dubai Summit 2022, Neal shared the story of how he went from playing professional football to exploring the world of finance, ultimately leading him to Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto wallets.

*Lewis Neal with Cointelegraph reporter Ezra Reguerra. Photo: Roland Guirdonan*

Neal explained that his expectations were high when he started football. Like many aspiring professional sports boys, he thought he would be the star of the show. But things did not turn out as he hoped. He said:

– I thought I would get a lot of playing time. But during that year I was a backup. […] So I had to develop another life-changing skill for my family and myself. So that’s what drove me to get into the financial industry.”

Then the former footballer went to trade currency, futures and commodities before finally finding out about crypto. “When you trade, you get exposed to other asset classes. And that’s exactly how I got exposed to Bitcoin and other asset classes in the crypto space,” he said. Eventually, he became the CEO of a crypto wallet project called Kryptic.

Related: The Houston Texans become the first NFL team to sell game packages with crypto

Given his experience as a currency trader, Cointelegraph asked Neal to share his thoughts on the recent fall of fiat currencies such as the Euro and Pound. According to Neal, despite Bitcoin’s steady performance, it could still fall as the US dollar gains ground. He explained:

“The market is going to follow the economy at the end of the day, even if it’s Bitcoin. So just because Bitcoin is steady doesn’t mean it can’t fall, right? Because if you look at the dollar, the US dollar is gaining strength against all major currencies.”

When asked about Web3 technologies such as non-fungible tokens used by athletes to engage with fans, Neal said it’s important to simplify things and empower athletes by making the user experience easier. “I’ve been in the locker room, a lot of them don’t even know how to download a wallet and buy a cryptocurrency,” Neal said.

Neal emphasized that athletes should be able to do it themselves so that they can have full control of their brand and not let third parties do it for them: “We need to make it easy for athletes to become mass adopters.”