Lily Allen turned down hundreds of thousands of Bitcoin in offer to play gig that would have made her multibillionaire

Published on Jan 29, 2026 at 8:24 PM (UTC+4)
by Daisy Edwards

Last updated on Jan 29, 2026 at 8:25 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones

Did you know that if Lily Allen hadn’t turned down one single gig, she would have been a multibillionaire by now because of Bitcoin?

Back in the early days of crypto, the singer was invited to perform a virtual gig and get paid in Bitcoin instead of cash.

She said no, and later branded herself an ‘idiot’ for turning it down once Bitcoin’s value exploded.

Fast forward to now, and that rejected payday would have rewritten her entire bank balance; she might describe the whole situation as Not Fair.

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The Second Life gig compensation offer seemed Not Fair at the time

The story of this failed crypto investment goes back to a request for celeb singer-songwriter Lily Allen to stream a performance inside Second Life, the online virtual world.

Inside Second Life, users once held concerts, parties, and all sorts of digital events.

Instead of a normal fee, the proposed payment was ‘hundreds of thousands of bitcoins’.

At the time, that basically sounded like monopoly money because Bitcoin was still a niche, experimental currency, and most people treated it like a weird internet token rather than something you would use to pay an artist.

The West End Girl singer’s response was simple: she was not interested.

Years later, she posted about it on social media, admitting she had shut down the offer with an ‘as if’, before calling herself an idiot in hindsight for the decision.

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Lily Allen turned down Bitcoin that could have made her multibillionaire

Here’s the painful part: ‘hundreds of thousands’ of Bitcoin is the kind of number that becomes absurd once you run it through today’s prices.

Even in the late 2010s, the Bitcoin stash would have been worth well into the billions.

At higher peaks, it becomes the kind of money that would put her in the same conversation as the world’s wealthiest entertainers, and way beyond what most musicians ever see from touring and streaming.

Of course, this is all based on one massive assumption: that she would have held onto the Bitcoin for years instead of cashing out early, but as celebrity what-ifs go, this one is brutal.

One turned down gig, one throwaway ‘as if’, and a ticket to Scrooge McDuck levels of multibillionaire wealth vanished overnight.

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As a Content Writer since January 2025, Daisy’s focus is on writing stories on topics spanning the entirety of the website. As well as writing about EVs, the history of cars, tech, and celebrities, Daisy is always the first to pitch the seed of an idea to the audience editor team, who collab with her to transform it into a fully informative and engaging story.