After pitching for the Los Angeles Angels and the Texas Rangers, C.J. Wilson decided to play a different kind of game: selling cars. Now living in Fresno, California, he owns a luxury dealership featuring Porsche, BMW, and Audi models in the northwest part of town. He bought it in 2017 and has enjoyed being a car dealer. As he’s a relatively wealthy man, he’s also a big fan of cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin. He’s spent a lot of energy as a lobbyist.

“I’ve talked to everyone from senators all the way down to athletes,” Wilson told KFSN.

What better way to support Bitcoin than to allow customers to buy vehicles using it? Wilson told reporters that “several” customers have used it to buy a car from him. He says he’s sold cars to buyers in Florida, Maine, and even China. 

He’s recently sold a Lamborghini to a buyer who paid with it.

Wilson says younger buyers tend to prefer paying with Bitcoin

The former pitcher understands that many older buyers prefer to either finance a car or pay with cash, as they typically don’t understand how Bitcoin works. 

“When I first heard about Bitcoin, it was just like everybody else,” explained Wilson. “Hey, there’s this digital currency. I was like, ‘We live in a physical universe, so why do I want digital money?’”

He described Bitcoin as an “autonomous protocol,” or “a software,” and likened it to other popular payment processing apps. The more he learned about it, the more he became interested—and now it’s a borderline obsession.

“It’s really not that much different than Zelle or PayPal,” he continued. “With Bitcoin, you scan a QR code and then boom, done.”

He thinks one day, his investment in cryptocurrency will be worth more than his dealership

He assumes there are fewer than 10 dealerships statewide that process purchases made with Bitcoin.

“I probably am one of the few people in Fresno that’s doing anything with Bitcoin, and I really wish there were more,” he said. “We do maybe one transaction actually like that a month or every other month.”

He said his friend with a business called him for help when a customer asked to pay in Bitcoin. Wilson rushed to the rescue and hopes to see more businesses embrace the digital currency. 

“It’s really mainstream now,” he said. “It’s up to everyone else now to catch up.”