In brief
- Tony Hawk draws parallels between skateboarding and Bitcoin.
- He is credited with pushing a niche subculture into the mainstream—the goal of every ardent Bitcoiner.
Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk told Bitcoiners at the sold-out Bitcoin 2021 conference today that their lifelong passion is a little bit like Hawk’s: skateboarding, and that they should keep on keeping on.
“If you're working in [...] Bitcoin, and you're enjoying what you're doing, I think you should stick with it,” he said to a cheering crowd of Bitcoiners.
As a skateboarder, Hawk has spent his life pushing a niche subculture into the mainstream—the ultimate goal of Bitcoiners, who want everyone to use their cryptocurrency.
"I was still living the dream, I was skating for a living... it was a meager living but it was for a passion," Hawk told his captive audience. "It was just a passion and I feel like that's where [Bitcoiners] are at."
"I embraced the idea that skateboarding was for misfits. I felt like a misfit as a kid. I felt like I found my community, my tribe."
His interviewer, Jeremy Gardner, a crypto investor and co-founder of crypto betting market platform Augur, said, “it’s remarkable how an industry can bring people together, and Bitcoin does that."
Tony Hawk to Ollie Into World of Collectible NFTs
Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, noted for his boundary-pushing professional career and hit video game franchise, revealed on social media overnight that he will release collectible non-fungible tokens (NFTs) via platform Ethernity Chain. NFTs are digital items that can take the form of still artwork, an animated gif, video game asset, or a video, and they can be individually authenticated via a blockchain. Digital artists have gravitated toward the technology of late due to the ability to sell v...
“The audience is just Bitcoiners of every culture and every background. It's like, this is part of the zeitgeist,” Gardner said. “This is just a moment where Paris Hilton DJ'd at a Bitcoin conference!”
The 52-year-old Hawk no longer skateboards. In March, he sold an NFT of a video of what he said would be his final 540-degree ollie trick.
Winklevoss Twins, Tony Hawk Donate to Bitcoin-HODLing Water Charity
charity: water, a nonprofit working to bring drinking water to the developing world, has launched a charitable Bitcoin trust that will hold donations until at least January 2025. The trust, announced today at the Miami Bitcoin conference, has already sourced 15 BTC (just under $550,000) in donations from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, skateboarder Tony Hawk and investor Bill Miller. That’s enough to provide about 11,000 people with clean water. Holding donations until 2025 gives Bitcoin a chance...
Hawk is one of the first donors to charity: water’s Bitcoin trust. The trust will hold charitable Bitcoin donations until at least January 2025, the charity announced yesterday at the conference. Hawk was also the charity’s first Bitcoin donor in 2014. But charity: water CEO Scott Harrison said the nonprofit sold his 4.8 Bitcoin donation for a total of $1,435 that year.
At the Bitcoin 2021 conference, Hawk is auctioning off 50 limited edition skateboards for his charity, The Skateboard Park. Skateboards have a printed slogan on them that will surely resonate at the Bitcoin conference: end fiat.
