beincrypto.com
The Bitcoin community may have just gotten bigger. According to David Bailey, the CEO of BTC Inc, star cyclist Lance Armstrong is now a Bitcoin investor.
Bailey described in a tweet how he “set [Armstrong] up a wallet with 10m sats,” though details are scant. While Armstrong’s verified Twitter account was tagged in the tweet, the athlete has yet to comment on the BTC purchase as of press time.
From Biking to Bitcoin
It is by no means a massive amount of BTC, especially for a world-famous athlete of Armstrong’s stature. 10 million satoshis would have cost around $1,150 at the time.
But Matt Odell, whose Twitter account describes him as a Bitcoin and privacy advocate, noted that Armstrong now owns more Bitcoin than Microstrategy, the company that poured $425 million into BTC for its treasury. Followers were left scratching their heads until one follower clarified replying “not your keys..”
Lance Armstrong appears to have taken the path of self-custody, in which his BTC assets are located on a wallet of his choice. If so, he is in control of his funds and not subject to the risks of leaving the asset on a third-party platform that can be compromised. MicroStrategy, on other hand, has left most of its BTC assets with “established cryptocurrency custodians,” the company explained in an SEC filing.
Controversial Career
Armstrong’s professional cycling career has been mired in controversy surrounding the use of performance enhancement drugs. He was stripped of more than half-a-dozen Tour de France titles as a result of the doping, which he admitted to in 2013. Some in the crypto community couldn’t resist bringing Armstrong’s past into it.
In an interview with CNBC in 2018, Armstrong was asked about having to dole out more than $100 million in legal settlements, which caused people to wonder if he was completely broke at the time. But his savvy investments in companies like Uber have netted him tens of millions of dollars, and Armstrong was even inspired to launch his own investment fund, Next Ventures, which targets opportunities in sports, fitness, wellness, and nutrition industries.
Perhaps it could even expand to include digital assets or blockchain startups next.