Leonid Radvinsky was a Ukrainian-American entrepreneur who became the controlling owner of OnlyFans in 2018. Before OnlyFans, he already had experience in the adult internet industry. He founded MyFreeCams in 2004, which allowed adult performers to stream video content and earn money directly from viewers.
Years later, he noticed a small British platform called OnlyFans that had been founded in 2016 by Tim Stokely. At that time, OnlyFans was still relatively small and was making around $2 million a year. In 2018, Radvinsky bought a 75 percent stake in the company’s parent, Fenix International. After that acquisition, the company’s growth accelerated rapidly.
According to the New York Times, when Radvinsky bought into the company, he understood that “the rise of social media and the influencer economy were fundamentally changing the internet, and that adult entertainment stood to benefit.” OnlyFans was earning an estimated $7 billion annually, a massive jump from its early years. During the pandemic, the platform exploded in popularity, adding hundreds of thousands of users per day.
How OnlyFans Built a Billion-Dollar Creator Economy Model
OnlyFans’ business model was simple but powerful. Creators could charge fans a monthly subscription fee. They could also receive tips and sell exclusive content directly. The company kept 20 percent of earnings and paid creators 80 percent. The New York Times reported that creators were being paid some $200 million a year by late 2020, and that figure continued to rise as the platform expanded.
This direct payment structure is important to understand before looking at crypto. OnlyFans was already built around the idea of cutting out traditional gatekeepers and allowing creators to earn directly from their audience.
That idea fits closely with some of the main ideas behind cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, which also focus on direct peer-to-peer exchange. Even though OnlyFans did not begin as a crypto platform, its structure made it open to experimenting with new financial tools.
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Did OnlyFans Accept Cryptocurrency Payments?
However, one of the biggest misunderstandings is that OnlyFans allowed fans to pay with crypto. It did not. Payments on OnlyFans were still made through credit cards and traditional payment processors. This became very clear in 2021 when OnlyFans briefly announced it would ban explicit content due to pressure from banking partners. The company reversed the decision within days after finding alternative financial partners, but the incident showed how dependent it was on traditional finance systems.
Even though crypto payments were never added, the company explored blockchain technology in other ways. That is where Leonid Radvinsky’s quiet interest in crypto becomes more visible.
In February 2022, OnlyFans announced that it would allow users to display verified NFTs as profile pictures. Reuters reported at the time that the platform would support NFTs minted on the Ethereum blockchain. When a user connected their crypto wallet and verified ownership of an NFT, a small Ethereum icon appeared on their profile picture. Clicking on it would take users to OpenSea, where more details about the NFT could be viewed.
In its announcement, OnlyFans said this feature was “the first step in exploring the role of NFTs on our platform.” This statement underscored how the company saw NFTs not as a one-time marketing move but as part of a broader exploration into Web3 technology. At that time, X (still known as Twitter) had also introduced NFT profile pictures, and the NFT market was at its peak.
OnlyFans joined that trend, but what made its move unique was the type of creators it served. Millions of adult content creators suddenly had a direct bridge into the crypto world. Even though it seemed like a small feature, it connected a massive user base to Ethereum and NFT ownership.
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Fenix International’s Ethereum Investment Explained
The strongest proof that OnlyFans truly entered the crypto space comes from the company’s financial statements. Under Radvinsky, Fenix International, the parent company of OnlyFans, disclosed in UK filings that it had purchased approximately $19.9 million worth of Ethereum.
These holdings were classified as intangible assets on its balance sheet. Due to the cryptocurrency market crash in 2022, the value of Ethereum dropped sharply, and the company recorded an impairment loss of about $8.46 million. But by November 2022, the ETH holdings were valued at around $11.4 million.
OnlyFans was not just experimenting with NFT profile pictures. The company actually held a substantial amount of cryptocurrency as part of its treasury. That decision placed it among a small group of private companies willing to hold crypto directly on their balance sheets. It also demonstrated a level of belief in blockchain technology that went beyond surface-level marketing.
OnlyFans, Ukraine DAO, and the 500 ETH Donation
While Radvinsky controlled OnlyFans financially, founder Tim Stokely later became more openly involved in crypto projects. In 2022, after stepping down as CEO, Stokely co-founded Zoop, an NFT trading card platform built on the Polygon blockchain. Zoop aimed to bring celebrities and influencers into the Web3 world through digital collectibles. It described itself as family-friendly and focused on giving creators revenue shares from NFT sales.
In 2025, Zoop partnered with the HBAR Foundation and submitted a bid to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations. The proposal included integrating blockchain technology into TikTok’s creator payments and governance systems, with the idea of distributing 80 percent of advertising revenue directly to creators and users. Although the bid did not succeed, it showed how the OnlyFans direct-payment DNA was evolving into a Web3 vision.
How Crypto Fits Into Leonid Radvinsky's Bigger Strategy
Radvinsky never positioned himself publicly as a crypto evangelist. He did not give major speeches about blockchain, and he avoided public appearances. But the company he controlled held millions in Ethereum, integrated NFT verification, and was connected to high-profile crypto donations. These actions suggest that he saw blockchain as strategically useful, even if he did not center the company around it.
Radvinsky died at age 43 after a long battle with cancer. OnlyFans confirmed that he “passed away peacefully” and asked for privacy for his family. At the time of his death, he was estimated to be worth billions of dollars. His legacy is tied to the transformation of OnlyFans into one of the most valuable private companies in the subscription creator economy.
Jemi Motesho
