Former NBA player Kris Humphries is tweeting about cryptocurrency these days. More specifically, he’s talking about a project called ChainLink.
Humphries certainly isn’t the first or most prominent NBA player to take an interest in cryptocurrency. We’ll give that honor to Spencer Dinwiddie, a shooting guard for the Brooklyn Nets.
Still, it’s nice to see that Humphries is joining the party next to many other pro athletes who are starting to promote digital currencies as a new way of investing and as a gateway to the future.
The question is, what is ChainLink? And what’s driving Humphries’ interest?
What is ChainLink?
ChainLink is a decentralized network that aims to connect data from the real world with something called smart contracts. Smart contracts are basically digital agreements that users like you can learn to program so that they can participate in negotiations and make deals with people without there having to be a lawyer or middleman present to guarantee both sides of the deal. The technology handles it for you and acts as the middleman in exchange for a nominal fee.
Smart contract technology itself has the potential to make traditional gambling websites have to be more competitive with the fees they charge, the juice, and the rakes they take from users because a smart contract makes it more efficient to run a business, including gambling websites.
Essentially what ChainLink does is take outside data, such as the details of a wager, feed that data into the smart contract for you, and execute the terms of that smart contract, all without you having to worry about anything technical. Developers who have the ability to engage in the technical aspects of the project can build on top of it, but the average gambler won’t have to worry about those kind of implementations.
So Why Is Kris Humphries Talking About It?
Humphries may or may not be an active gambler, and he may or may not be big on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. What we know for sure is he is certainly a multimillionaire. In fact, according to Hoops Hype, across parts of 16 NBA seasons, Humphries earned an estimated $66 million.
With access to that kind of money, you can bet he’s more than willing to sprinkle a few dollars into a project like ChainLink. Mind you, tweeting aside, Humphries himself has never come out and confirmed that he owns a significant number of ChainLink tokens. That said, as his tweets suggest, the value of ChainLink increased 145 percent from the second week of April to the end of the first week of July 2020. That’s certainly an impressive return on investment for such a short period of time.
Should You Gamble on Crypto Like Humphries and Dinwiddie?
As with anybody with a penchant for high-risk investing and/or gambling, most people will be quick to brag about their wins and their gains but don’t say much about their losses. Spencer Dinwiddie’s recent trials and tribulations trying to turn his contract into cryptocurrency are proof of that.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic he was featured as one of the main guests in a virtual blockchain conference explaining the details of how he planned to turn his $34-million contract extension with the Brooklyn Nets into an investment opportunity for accredited investors to participate in. That was only a month ago.
Fast-forward to today and we now know that Dinwiddie only raised 10 percent of the money he was looking to raise through his token sale. While he has certainly been fantastic in promoting the adoption of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, it’s clear that fans and investors have yet to jump on board and take the gamble alongside him, at least as it refers to his own project.
Kudos to both Dinwiddie and Humphries for promoting the movement. As for whether or not you should do the same, well, that’s up to you to decide.
