 Today, we have a special guest joining the channel. He's a professional athlete in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons. Other than football and crypto, he also invests in stocks and real estate. He also has his own charity and esports gaming team. He will be giving us an inside look at exactly what the posts of crypto is like within the professional athlete community. We will also talk about his favorite outcoin projects and where we both see crypto going within the next 10 years. You guys don't want to miss this one. Let's jump right in. What is going on guys? I am here with my boy here, Eli Anku. What's going on, man? How are you feeling? Feeling good, man. I actually just got done with my workday. We just had practice and all that. So for the people watching, don't know who I am. My name is Eli Anku. I'm a defensive tackle with the Atlanta Falcons. This is my fifth year in the NFL. I just came in from the Cowboys. The Cowboys? Oh, man. Cowboy Bell. How was that, man? I always hear so much drama over there in Dallas. The Cowboys was fun, man. Honestly, the facilities are awesome. The people are great, coaches, all that. And obviously, I got to play with people from my hometown over in Canada. So it was a fun experience, man. So I can't complain. That's a suck, man. That's a suck, man. Awesome, dude. And yeah, you're now with the Falcons, right? Yes. So I am with the Falcons. I signed with them just recently. We're now in the process of doing our OTAs. If anyone's not really familiar with that, it's kind of like organized team activities. It's like an optional thing, but everyone kind of comes together, meshes together, learns the playbook, do exercises and meetings and all that. So it's been good, man. So for the moment, I'm living out in the hotel, as you can see. Just hanging out. But it's been great so far. It's a blessing. That's awesome, man. I'm a huge NFL fan, man. Football is my favorite sport out of any. I played baseball mostly growing up, but I also played some football, you know. I completely understand, man. So it does take quite a bit physically. I'll definitely take a beating. After every game, I will say this every time it feels like you just got in a car crash. Yeah, that's what I've heard, man. And I can only imagine, man, because I played with, you know, 15, 16, 17 year olds. So I can only imagine playing with grown men, like running into each other as hard as you can, like just putting your body on the line. Like it's crazy, man. It's literally like this. It's like the new generation of gladiators, basically. Yeah, it's nothing. We really push ourselves physically not only, you know, as far as conditioning and strength, you know, strength work, but, you know, it's a lot mentally. People will see everything that happened along TV and social media, but it's a lot that goes into it, you know, behind closed doors, put a lot of hours in, you know, as far as getting yourself better game IQ and, you know, physically preparing yourself for pretty much what is a car crash. I mean, you know, every game is going to be like that and you just have to prepare yourself for it. So let's jump into some crypto, man. How did you get into crypto? When did you get into crypto? And, you know, tell us a little bit about that. Yeah. So funny story. I actually learned about crypto. I heard about crypto back in the early days. I heard about it. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't a secret or anything. People heard about it. To me, at the time, it was a passing fad. And, you know, that mentality kind of kept persisting as time went. Oh, what, 2016 or 17, it climbed or yeah, in 2016, I saw it climb. I was like, wow, good for them. I have no money. Yeah. So, you know, time went. One of my friends tried to get me into Ethereum. I remember that. And I was like, I don't really understand it. You know, I don't want to put my money into that. You know, and I'm a rookie at the time. Right. So, you know, me being a rookie, wanting to be smart with my money, of course, you know, I'm trying to just hold it and just, you know, not any word that just keep it in my pocket. Yeah. Come to find out, you know, me and my friend were talking about it just recently. And she was saying, Hey, like, I remember trying to get you into this, you know, and it was really low. And I was like, I know I should have done it. But eventually I came around to it. One of my buddies, Eddie Vanerdos, used to be my college roommate, you know, he, he was like, Hey, man, we can get you, you know, all settled down with understanding what cryptocurrencies are. Right. And that was just what early this year. He got me into it, man. And I thank him for that and a few other guys in the league, you know, got me interested in it, you know, and it was something like, you know, the cycle is moving. It was like 20,000 and boom, 35,000. Yeah. I definitely have a lot of people to thank for getting me into that space. But it wasn't until exactly earlier this year that I truly decided to commit to understanding, you know, what crypto is, what Bitcoin is, because obviously when you hear about crypto, Bitcoin is the first one that's going to come to mind. So for me, that was like the first big one and then kind of move on from there. Right. So are you also invested like in other outcoins? What, what, what's your favorite outcoin right now? So I'm just going to go out and say this, right? You know, obviously Bitcoin was my first one. It's the one that I hold the most of. It's, it's to me, the most solid one. It drives the market. You know, it's pretty much the school bus driver and the rest of them are part of the bus. Exactly. It's the foundation, basically. Exactly. It wasn't until I started researching, you know, different protocols and different coins that I really started understanding that they all serve a different purpose. So you look at Ethereum being different than Bitcoin. Initially, I thought they were competing to be the same thing. And I was like, wow, just pick one. Then I started understanding that they serve different purposes. I got into, you know, Oracle projects such as Chainlink, Uniswap at one point. I got into my favorite ones, Cardano. Did you get into that early? You know, Cardano was a little bit late. I got in at about a dollar. But okay, figuring like it's all relative, right? Right. But talking about Cardano, man, I think for me, my understanding of crypto went from, you know, the basic need of wanting to make money because let's be real. Of course. A lot of us get into it because we want to make money off. Of course. Me being a pro athlete, you know, I want to be able to make my money that I make right and I want to be able to make passive income. Of course. However, you know, you look with projects like Cardano and any of the sister projects that they have going on, dude is so impressive to me. You know, you look at, again, Cardano for the project, the smart contracts coming up. It's baffling. Like you're thinking about something that's literally going to change the world, right? Naturally speaking, and also in terms of infrastructure, right? Right. Charles Laskinsen starting projects in Ethiopia. The education system running on Cardano, the Cardano. Right. Yep. Medical sister medical infrastructure, all that stems from, you know, innovation within the blockchain technology space. Right. Whoever's developing those technologies. My absolute favorite one that I got into just recently was Ergo. I don't know if you're familiar with it. You know what? I saw you. I haven't been involved. Like I haven't got into it or anything like that. I haven't looked too much into it, but I did see you post about it. So that's actually how I know about it because I saw you post about it. Yeah. Well, shoot, man. Dude, I'm so impressed by these things. Ergo. It is a protocol, a blockchain that's completely compatible with Cardano. Okay. They have, it's basically the Swiss army knife of Cardano. They do pretty much everything. And you think about blockchain technology and how far it's come. You know, you look at Bitcoin being the super secure, robust, safe. Right. Then you look at Ethereum being the one who can handle transactions, obviously at a cost. And you know, that's a whole other topic. But then you look at these late generation crypto and their blockchain technology. It's absolutely impressive. Charles Hoskinson was talking about, you know, he sees this thing being a top 15 project. Right. Simply for the fact that it can do pretty much everything. Right. You know, they have their own blockchain. It's a proof of work system, which reinforces the security of the Cardano system, which it runs off of. They have Oracle pools, literally chain link. They have their own stablecoin. They have a decentralized exchange. They have all these things that are thrown into this project and they're doing it so efficiently. Right. We're talking about keeping things environmentally friendly and this and that. And I think that's where we're going to see a shift. Right. That's where we're going to see points kind of make their own. And I think, honestly, to me, and again, everyone has differing opinions. Right. But as far as I could research and get my best understanding of, I think it's going to be a really good project going forward. Awesome. So Ergo is your big play there. Huge, huge, bullish sentiment on Ergo, man. They're I love them. I'm sure you've talked about this on your channel recently. I know I saw it on Instagram. El Salvador, was it? Yes. Yep. Crazy. That's one small step for so many different countries to follow suit. Exactly. And like, dude, that's a lot. Yeah. I'm already hearing that there's other countries also in South America that are interested in possibly doing the same thing. I even read today that Mexico is possibly interested in doing that. And I already know that the richest man in Mexico, I forgot his name, but he's like a billionaire. He says that he's invested a huge, I don't know, a huge, but a really big percentage of his portfolio into Bitcoin. So I think that's the first domino to fall, and others are slowly going to start creeping in. Mass adoption. Absolutely. I completely agree with you, man. I think as time goes and more countries and governments get into understanding what this is, they're going to be less afraid of it and move more towards adopting it. And I'm really happy to see a country adopting it. It's a small step. And that's what I like to see, not necessarily just the market and this and that. We could talk about numbers, but at the end of the day, when we're talking about social adoption of this, to me that's huge. Yeah. My next question, I know a lot of people are wondering this. What's the conversation sounding like nowadays in locker rooms and around the league? I know there's been a lot of news of, like I think I saw Trevor Lawrence was getting his bonus in crypto or something like that or his pay out. Was it his full pay? I don't know it was his full pay or his bonus or something. Then I know, what's his name? Russell Oaken. Yeah, Oaken, he has his thing in crypto and Yesh Koken has his in crypto. Yes, here is my take on all of that. There is definitely a dialogue within the NFL amongst players to be smart with your money, to invest, to let your money work for you. And I think people have been and athletes have been becoming more conscious of that, becoming more aware of that. So you see a lot of guys putting their money into investments such as maybe the housing market, they could put it into the stock market, which I am into that as well. And also a buying property, moving along with that. Awesome. But there comes a time where you make extra money. It's not a secret. A lot of football players make a decent amount of money. I think a lot of guys want to be able to again, let their money work for them. And they see cryptocurrency as a perfect opportunity for it. I mean, you're looking at a generational type of technology that you put your money into it, you're going to get returns. You might also lose, and that's a whole other conversation. But that's as far as the mentality goes. So I guess the more I talk to guys, the more familiarized they are with crypto. I just today had a full-on conversation right before practice with one of my teammates about crypto. And it's becoming more of a point of emphasis, a point of passion for these guys to talk about. Because again, the technology is groundbreaking. I mean, there's no other way to explain it. So crypto 100% is being adopted by players in the NFL. The conversation always starts with big point typically, and then you move into other projects as your understanding of what it is progresses. I tell people, this is another case of a blockbuster. You have to either adapt or you're going to go away. And the longer you wait to adapt to it, then the further behind you're going to fall. And that's with governments, countries, and the same with people. There's a lot of people that still don't believe and don't think it's anything. They still think it's a tulip mania or or something that's just here for a short time, a craze or whatever. But this is not a meme coin or a meme token or meme stock. This has been around over 10 years, over a decade already. And I believe it's here to stay at this point. It's not going anywhere. Agreed. I think that again, the view on crypto in the NFL, I think, mirrors the view on crypto around the world. Crypto is still in its infancy, man. It's still early. I'm pretty sure as far as blockchain technology, we're going to have a shift where we start adopting it more and more. And as time goes, it's only been 10 years and far less for a lot of these alt-point projects. As time goes, we're going to be adopting these the same way that we adopted the internet and how it became integral to the functioning of society. Yeah, for sure. And you know what the crazy thing is that not that you brought up the internet, that back then when the internet first came out, that same argument about electricity, it was that they made that same argument as an argument against the internet. That's insane. And now we're seeing the same argument again, now with Bitcoin. So it's crazy. I think we've pretty much touched on most of the stuff I wanted to ask you. Do you have anything else that you want to tell us? If there's anything I could really say, man, is this whole cryptocurrency, I guess adventure, is pretty much what it's been for me because it started as more of a, let me educate myself thing. But it's come to a point where I've become confident enough to take a lot of my holdings from last year's earnings and put it into these projects. I have a lot of faith in the future of cryptocurrency. And obviously, the numbers are going to go up and down and all this crazy stuff. But at the end of the day, I think my goal is to look back 10 years from now and say, I was a part of history. I was a part of something big. So I think that's what keeps me at ease when it comes to investing my money into this. I've invested into so many different things. And as far as investments goes, man, this has definitely been the most interesting for me. So pretty much all just the same. And it's whatever happens with the cryptocurrency space and all the ups and downs, I'm extremely confident with the future of crypto, especially the projects that do have a solid base to build up on. Awesome, dude. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, man, for joining me to create this video, to ask you questions. Because I know a lot of people are always wondering about things like this. And I appreciate you coming on here on the channel. And, you know, having a chat with us and talking about all these different subjects, man, it's just so interesting. And I love to see the adoption. Yeah, man. So I appreciate it, man. And we'll be in touch, man. We'll definitely, we're probably going to have to have you come back on here. Sounds good. All right, man. So that's pretty much it, man. Thank you so much. You know, if I could pick you on fantasy, I would pick you on fantasy football, just for just for just for being on here. But thank you, man. Appreciate it. No problem at all. I hope you guys enjoyed this video with Eli Ancu. It was amazing getting to talk with him and get the the inside scoop on exactly what a professional athlete feel like towards crypto and how they've been adopting it as well to, you know, to create more income and to make their money make work for them and make more money and make some passive income. So it was amazing. Thank you again, Eli. And thank you guys for watching. Guys, don't forget to smash that like button. If you're new to the channel, don't forget to subscribe and turn on the notification bell where we're going to continue having more features like this, where we have special guests on the channel. We're going to be doing market analysis, news updates and all sorts of tutorials and reviews as well. Thank you guys so much. I will see you on the next video. As always, peace and love.