Luana Pinheiro, a Brazilian UFC fighter, is the first female athlete in Latin America to get her entire salary in BTC.

Luana Pinheiro, a competitor in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), said that she had teamed up with Bitwage to collect her pay in Bitcoin (BTC). Pinheiro claimed that although she still receives cash money from her sponsors, she instantly changes them to bitcoin via Bitwage.

Pinheiro has won eight straight matches and is is ranked 15th in her UFC class. The fighter said that her boyfriend and fellow mixed martial artist Matheus Nicolau persuaded her to choose to get paid in bitcoin.

Pinheiro noted that she loves to receive paid in BTC and does not care about the volatility of the cryptocurrency while equating Bitcoin to her fighting style, jiu-jitsu. She claims that the main force behind asset appreciation is volatility.

She continued, “If it weren’t volatile, it wouldn’t go up either.

“Think about it: it takes an average of 10–15 years for an individual to obtain a black belt in Brazil in Jiu Jitsu, so my time preference here is just as long, if not longer. Everything else is just noise to me and the lower the price, the more Bitcoin I can secure for the future.”

The Brazilian further said that, for her, Bitcoin acts as a hedge against inflation since, whereas fiat currencies’ purchasing power has been declining over time due to inflation, BTC has continued to rise despite some corrective moves.

Remember, I’m from Brazil, so I have some knowledge of inflation and its impacts. When the Brazilian Real was first created in 1994 and at that time linked 1:1 to the US dollar, I was born. Now, 1 USD is equal to 5 BRL. To protect against inflation, Bitcoin is used for that, the speaker stated.

Professional soccer players Alex Barrett, Achara Ifunanyachi, and Alex Crognale also receive their pay in bitcoin in addition to Nicolau and Pinheiro.

UFC has a number of collaborations with cryptocurrency businesses. The UFC and cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com partnered in April, allowing athletes to receive their fan rewards in BTC. Crypto.com awards the fan bonus to the top three competitors in forthcoming pay-per-view events.

Separately, in June, UFC signed a multi-year, $100 million marketing agreement with blockchain logistics company VeChain Foundation.