The world’s first ever female UFC fighter to be paid in Bitcoin thanks to Bitwage
Luana Pinheiro is the world’s first ever female UFC fighter to have a significant amount of her earnings paid out in Bitcoin via the Bitwage platform
Miami, Florida, July 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitwage went into futuristic mode again by working with #15 ranked strawweight Luana Pinheiro (10-1-0 record) to allow her to become the world’s first female fighter in the UFC and the world’s first Latin American athlete, in general, to receive her paycheck in Bitcoin. Using Bitwage, Pinheiro, the Brazilian phenom on an eight-fight winning streak, can get paid in Bitcoin without having to negotiate a Bitcoin payment with her promotion (UFC).
Luana’s boyfriend, #7 ranked flyweight Matheus Nicolau (18-2 record), has already switched to Bitwage in March of this year, making them a true UFC power couple on the Bitcoin standard. Both have UFC championship aspirations and hope to earn Bitcoin for their fights as they climb the ranks to the top.
“MMA is a brutal sport and there is no time for overthinking. Mental strength and callousness are everything,” said Pinheiro.
A black belt in judo, from a family full of black belts, Pinheiro has been immersed in martial arts since the age of two. “I don’t think I’d have a problem with Bitcoin going down or going up,” Pinheiro says. “If it wasn’t volatile, it wouldn’t go up either. Consider this: it takes an average of 10-15 years for a person to earn a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so my time preference here is just as long if not longer. I call it 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.”
This deal is one of many facilitated by Bitwage – a company known for its premium payroll service that allows anyone in the world to be paid in Bitcoin without the employer needing to be on board. Founded in 2014 in San Francisco, Bitwage makes crypto payments faster, cheaper and accessible to everyone in the world.
People usually think that in order for someone to use their service, there needs to be some kind of integration or their employer needs to be involved or their HR department or something. But it is exactly the opposite. Anyone reading this can sign up right now, get their bank account details from Bitwage and have their next paycheck come to them as Bitcoin to any address they want.
“Opportunity is a mean goddess who wastes no time with the unprepared.” said Matheus Nicolau. “You improve as much as possible in every aspect and when the opportunity arises, you are ready. Both in life and in sport. Luana joining me to enter the Bitcoin standard makes me very happy and I am more than sure that bold and courageous steps taken today will be a great victory in the future, for both of us. We stand and do things together, united and completely synchronized, because that’s how we are – never above, never below, but always next to each other.” – Matheus Nicolau
How the better half of the Luana & Matheus power couple came to the realization to go the Bitcoin route, Luana explains in more detail:
“When Matheus switched to get paid in Bitcoin, a few months ago, I met the Bitwage team. They flew into Rio and provided personal concierge service to Matheus. I was impressed with their approach, and the amount of knowledge and information I raised was overwhelming. So everything came together and the time was just right. You can only lose what you put into it, but what about the upside when Bitcoin does 100X?! I knew what I had to do and that the sooner I plant the tree, the faster the tree will grow. It was just a natural progression of things. Not doing so was a risk I wasn’t willing to take. Whoever dares wins, both inside and outside the octagon. And don’t forget that I’m from Brazil, so I know a thing or two about inflation and it’s effects.I was born around 1994, at that time the Brazilian currency Real was introduced and pegged 1:1 to the US dollar at the time. Now it’s 5 BRL to 1 USD. What Do we use Bitcoin again?!” Luna said.
How it works: Anyone in the world can register with Bitwage to receive a bank account number. Then you choose what percentage you want to receive in Bitcoin, and then you give the new account number to your employer. Once they send the paycheck, you will receive Bitcoin to address you check. If you didn’t allocate 100% to go into Bitcoin, you will receive the rest of the money into your regular bank account. This is exactly how both Luana and Matheus receive their payments from the UFC from now on. Bitwage also has services for businesses that want to offer the benefit directly as well.
The Bitwage team flew to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and gave their exclusive concierge service to Luana Pinheiro personally. Their exclusive service is not only reserved for athletes or high net worth individuals, but quite the opposite. Anyone worldwide can sign up and use it the same way Luana and Matheus use it.
“Right information at the right time is everything. Having knowledge and not acting on it is not why we acquire knowledge in the first place. We get it so we can act.” Chester said. “It is our goal to help each individual on their journey. Through education, each individual can choose how they want to be paid, whether it is to their self-controlled wallet or to their bank account. So at the end of the day they don’t need anyone and are truly independent. Our relentless approach to detail is available to anyone who signs up for our service.
Having the first pair of athletes in the world in the most brutal sport in the world, both getting paid in Bitcoin using our service is a glimpse of what the future holds.”
In addition to Matheus Nicolau, Luana is joined by being paid in Bitcoin by professional soccer player Alex Barrett. Professional footballers Achara Ifunanyachi and Alex Crognale made similar moves in 2021 using Bitwage as their premium Bitcoin salary service provider as well.
For more information:
https://www.bitwage.com
About Bitwage
Bitwage is the global leader in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and stablecoin payroll with services across billing and benefits services. The company also offers resources to employers, employees and freelancers with their robust, online platform. Bitwage is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with operations in the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia. After a simple registration process, employees and freelancers can receive any percentage of their salary in Bitcoin with unique bank accounts offered in the US, EU and UK. International users can also receive their salary faster and cheaper than traditional banking channels through blockchain technology, receiving Bitcoin or fiat on the other end. Bitwage has processed $150MM in transactions with over 50,000 users and 2,000 companies. Since its inception in 2014, Bitwage has received $4MM in funding from Draper Associates, BnkToTheFuture, Overton VC, Candela Reach Capital, Plug and Play, BPI France and many others.
CONTACT: Jonathan Chester Bitwage [email protected]
