PHOENIX — The costs of competing at the Olympics can be taxing for some athletes.
Some athletes have been outspoken over the years about the financial barriers that inhibit them from competing at the games. One British athlete even started a GoFundMe fundraiser to sponsor their goal of getting to the Olympics.
Chris Knierim, a Tucson-born figure skater who won a bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics, is trying to help out other athletes by raising awareness about the benefits of crypto-based donations.
In a recent interview on CoinDesk, Knierim appeared with Engiven co-founder James Lawrence to encourage crypto holders to donate some of their assets for Olympic athletes.
Knierim told CoinDesk that crypto donations can fund travel expenses for the family members of athletes going to Beijing to watch the games.
Before the Winter Olympics began, Engiven announced a partnership it had formed with U.S. figure skating to raise crypto-based donations on its behalf.
“Allowing our supporters to give to U.S. Figure Skating using cryptocurrency makes sense in today’s quickly changing financial marketplace," Engiven wrote in a statement last year.
Figure skaters aren't the first Olympic athletes to collect crypto donations. Back in 2018, American lugers accepted Bitcoin donations to fund their Olympic ambitions, according to TIME Magazine.
Knierim's not competing at the Olympics in Beijing, but his wife Alexa has been skating with Brandon Frazier, another Arizona-born athlete.
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