Bitwage has announced on Wednesday that Luana pinheiro, UFC strawweight fighter, will be the first UFC female fighter to receive bitcoin payments. Pinheiro’s boyfriend, a UFC flyweight fighter, started getting paid in bitcoin last March and after her eight-fight winning streak, Pinheiro decided to follow her partner’s decision to get paid in crypto.
UFC Strawweight Luana pinheiro will get paid in Bitcoin through Bitwage
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), fighters started to invest in crypto assets, following Francis Ngannou’s announcement that half of his UFC270 purse would be paid in Bitcoin. UFC Fight Night bonuses can also be paid in Bitcoin because of a partnership with Crypto.com, a digital currency exchange. Bitwage, the cryptocurrency payments platform company Bitwage, announced on July 27, that Luana pinheiro (18-2 record) would be the UFC’s first female fighter to be paid bitcoin (BTC).
Bitwage details that because Pinheiro is leveraging the company’s platform, she doesn’t have to negotiate with the mixed martial arts (MMA) company UFC to get crypto payments. Pinheiro was inspired by her boyfriend Matheus Nicolas Nicolau, a UFC flyweight fighter (18-2 record). Nicolau started getting paid in BTC in March and Bitwage says that it makes them “a true UFC power couple on the bitcoin standard.”
“MMA is a brutal sport and there is no time for overthinking. Mental strength and callousing one’s mind is everything,” Pinheiro explained in a statement sent to Bitcoin.com News. “I do not think I will have a problem with bitcoin going down or up [in fiat value]. It would also not rise if it wasn’t volatile. Consider this: It takes an average of 10-15 years to become a black belt at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. My preference is for the same time, if not more. It’s my black belt time preference. Everything else is just noise to me and the lower the price, the more bitcoin I will be able to secure for the future.”
Bitwage Co-Founder Jonathan Chester: ‘Proper Information at the Right Time Is Everything’
According to the co-founder and CEO of Bitwage, Jonathan Chester, the company’s team flew out to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to help Pinheiro get started in person. Chester remarked that the service is not just for athletes and high-net-worth people as anyone worldwide can opt to use Bitwage’s crypto payment services. “Proper information at the right time is everything. Knowledge is useless if you don’t act on it. We get it so we can act.” Chester explained on Wednesday during the announcement. Chester said:
Our goal is to support each individual in their personal journey. Every person can decide how they wish to be paid through education. They are independent and don’t need anyone.
Bitwage started offering stablecoin and crypto payroll services in 2014. In 2020, Bitwage launched a retirement plan with Gemini. The startup, which has more than 150 million transactions to its credit and has over 50,000 users worldwide and partnerships with nearly 2,000 businesses, has close to 200,000 customers. Pinheiro, her boyfriend Nicolau and Alex Barrett are UFC fighters. Alex Crognale, Achara Iunanyachi and Alex Barrett have chosen to receive their crypto payments through Bitwage.
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