Swedish Kickboxer Wins Bitcoin Fight Prize, Max Keiser KO's 'Bankster'

Held at the iconic O2 Arena in London, a prize of bitcoin worth £5,000 was on offer to the tournament victor.

Sweden-based Meran Zangana was the big winner of the event, scooping the digital currency prize as his reward for beating the UK's Kevin Ward in the final fight of the night.

With over 700 tickets sold, the tournament was the biggest UK-based bitcoin event yet.

Organiser Patrick Carroll explained that the idea for the Bitcoin Fight Night came about while attending a meetup group run by CoinScrum in central London.

While the indigO2 arena in the O2 was packed on the night, not everyone was there to support cryptocurrencies - the audience was a mix of bitcoin enthusiasts and kickboxing fans.

The die-hard fight crowd were there to cheer for their favourite fighters, and many bitcoiners came for a special interval act - a staged fight between broadcaster and proponent of digital currencies Max Keiser and 'The Bankster' represented by a trained kickboxer.

"The kickboxing and bitcoin guys came to StartJOIN and they said 'we want to put the project on StartJOIN', which is a crowdfunding site. We immediately got involved and then they said, 'why not have Max come along?' So I reluctantly agreed to do this."

"The fight in this arena is a good metaphor for what's happening in the geopolitical front. Countries are now on a war footing. The battle is heating up. People are looking to preserve wealth and they will naturally go to bitcoin gold and silver."

"Metaphorically, bitcoin is the hero in the new currency arena and I think it will dominate the currency trading going forward. I think it will capture a significant part of the FOREX market. I think price will rebound in 2014 and hit an all-time high."

Before the Bitcoin Fight Night, a panel discussion on the topic 'How Can Bitcoin Fight Back Against the Hackers' took place at the venue, chaired by Chris Ellis, the co-founder of feathercoin.