Lily Allen calls herself an 'idiot' after turning down a '£61million' payday she would have earned for gig in Bitcoins

She is one of the UK's most successful female solo recording artists.
But even people as successful as Lily Allen, also known as her married name Lily Cooper, can make mistakes, as she displayed when she turned down a gig worth £61 million.

The singer was asked to perform on the website, Second Life, which she would have been paid in  the 'virtual' currency, Bitcoin.

 

Back on the road: Lily Allen will be taking her music back on the road again this year

Lily, who is said to be worth more than £6 million, turned down the offer despite Bitcoins now selling a reported £610 each.

On Sunday, she tweeted: 'About 5 years ago someone asked me to stream a gig live on second life for hundreds of thousNds of bitcoins, "as if" I said. #idiot #idiot.(sic)'
The singer, who gave birth to her second child, Marnie Rose, in January last year, came back to the music industry at the end of last year, recording a festive version of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know for the John Lewis Christmas advert.
The track spent two non-consecutive weeks at No.1 when it was released in December.
She also unveiled a new track, Hard Out Here, and said she even shocked herself, having expected to be out of the industry for at least a couple more years.

 Robbie Williams performs with Lily Allen in London

Back on tour: Lily Allen confirmed at Radio 1 that she would be back on tour in 2014

Lily told Q magazine: ‘I wasn’t surprised to come back again, but I was surprised to want to so soon.
‘It’s been quite a shock…a lot has changed in four years.'

The mum-of-two will be taking her music on the road again this year, revealing she will also be doing 16 weeks of live shows, including Glastonbury.
She told Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw about Glastonbury: ‘It got confirmed yesterday. That’s the first big thing I’m going to be doing.
‘I’ll be doing 16 weeks of festivals over the summer and then tour.'
A spokesperson for Lily Allen has been contacted by the Mail Online.

BITCOINS EXPLAINED by This Is Money's Marc Shoffman

Bitcoins were created by a mysterious Japanese guy that no one has ever met in 2009 called Sutushi Nakamoto. He devised a formula that computer geeks can use where they complete a whole load of computer codes that create a Bitcoin.

Virtual currency becomes hard currency: Bitcoin coins pictured at the coin dealer BitcoinCommodities in Berlin

Once created people can hold onto them or sell them onto trading platforms, or buy more.
The idea behind it is that it is a decentralised currency that can only be spent online and cannot be manipulated by governments or central banks for their own gains. It gives people anonymity with how they spend their money but it means it has become popular with drug dealers.
The price of a Bitcoin moves like a stock depending on confidence.

Last year the value raised after there were threats of Cyprus charging people with a lot of money in bank accounts. Loads of cash was moved into Bitcoins to protect it.
At the end of last year websites selling drugs for Bitcoins were closed down, and the US senate announced an inquiry into the uses of the currency.

This pushed the value up to $1000 per Bitcoin but then it fell in December because China, where Bitcoins are really popular, banned financial institutions from accepting it.
It has since gone up again as social media games producer Zynga said it would let people buy credits with Bitcoins
In the US you can order  pizza and other goods with Bitcoins and the Pembury Tavern in Hackney accepts them.

There are a few Bitcoin atms being produced where you can put in cash to buy a bitcoin. That is what I did last year and the value has been going up and down.