OnlyFans is reportedly weighing a major ownership shake-up that could reshape both its business model and its public image. The London-based subscription platform, best known for its adult content and creator-driven payouts, is in advanced discussions to sell a controlling minority stake of about 60% to California-based private equity firm Architect Capital, according to a report originally surfaced by the Wall Street Journal.
If the negotiations lead to a deal, the transaction could value OnlyFans at around $3.5 billion on an equity basis, or roughly $5.5 billion when including the company’s debt load. That implied valuation underscores how profitable the platform remains, even as it grapples with regulatory pressures, payments friction and an evolving content strategy.
Architect Capital is a private equity player that focuses on complex situations and corporate restructurings. In the context of OnlyFans, the firm is said to be particularly interested in overhauling and strengthening the platform’s payment infrastructure. Many of OnlyFans’ creators fall into a category often described as “under-banked” — people who face obstacles in accessing traditional banking and payment services, especially because they operate in or adjacent to the adult industry. Architect Capital reportedly sees an opportunity to build more robust, compliant, and inclusive financial rails for this creator base.
The deal talks come at a time when OnlyFans’ majority shareholder, Leo Radvinsky, appears ready to partially cash out. Radvinsky, an entrepreneur with a long history in adult entertainment, bought OnlyFans from its founders Tim and Guy Stokely in 2018. Under his leadership, the company exploded in popularity, particularly during the pandemic, becoming a shorthand for subscription-based adult content and a major source of income for sex workers and independent creators.
Financial disclosures show just how lucrative that growth has been. Over a recent two-year period, Radvinsky reportedly received close to $1 billion in dividends from OnlyFans’ parent, Fenix International. Those payouts reflect the platform’s robust profitability: net revenue is understood to be hovering around $1.6 billion annually, placing OnlyFans in a rare group of digital platforms that can generate both rapid top-line growth and substantial cash flow.
Despite this financial success, Radvinsky has been trying for several years to reposition the brand away from its almost purely adult reputation. The strategy has involved promoting OnlyFans as a broader social platform where chefs, fitness coaches, musicians and other creators can monetize exclusive content, more akin to a paid, private version of mainstream social media. That repositioning has not erased the platform’s adult core, but it signals a long-term attempt to reduce regulatory risk and potentially make the company more palatable to institutional investors.
Radvinsky reportedly began sounding out potential buyers as early as last year, with an initial ambition to fetch a price tag near $8 billion. That target appears to have been dialed back in the current talks, reflecting a more cautious funding environment for tech and media companies, as well as ongoing concerns about legal, reputational and banking risks tied to adult content.
For Architect Capital, the attraction is not just current profitability but the prospect of a future public listing. According to people familiar with the discussions, the firm envisions steering OnlyFans toward an initial public offering by around 2028. That timeline would give the new majority owner several years to refine governance, compliance, payments, and brand positioning — key preconditions for convincing public market investors to back a platform so deeply rooted in adult entertainment.
It is important to note that, for now, the sale remains speculative. The parties are still negotiating, and no binding contract has been signed. In complex deals of this scale, terms can change significantly or talks can collapse entirely before closing. Regulatory scrutiny, financing conditions, and internal debates over control and valuation could all still derail or reshape the proposed transaction.
Alongside its corporate maneuvering, OnlyFans’ parent company Fenix International has also made notable forays into digital assets. Between 2021 and 2022, Fenix invested approximately $19.9 million into Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The move positioned OnlyFans among a growing group of tech and content companies experimenting with crypto as part of their treasury or product strategy.
However, the sharp downturn in crypto markets that followed had a visible impact on the value of those holdings. By November 30, 2022, Fenix had to recognize an impairment of about $8.45 million on its Ethereum position. On paper, that reduced the reported value of the assets to roughly $11.4 million at that time. Even so, the company did not indicate any formal restrictions on selling the tokens, suggesting it had flexibility to liquidate or hold depending on its broader financial strategy.
Fenix had also begun exploring Ethereum-based non-fungible tokens as a way to expand OnlyFans’ product offerings. One of the early ideas involved allowing creators to use Ethereum NFTs as profile pictures, tying blockchain-based ownership to identity and fan engagement on the platform. While the NFT and crypto hype cycle has cooled considerably since then, this experimentation highlights OnlyFans’ interest in integrating Web3 features into its ecosystem, at least on a trial basis.
Publicly available information does not clarify whether Fenix ultimately sold, added to, or continued to hold its Ethereum reserves through 2025, when sentiment around digital assets turned more bearish again. The lack of detail leaves open questions about how aggressively OnlyFans still sees crypto as part of its long-term financial or product roadmap, especially in a stricter regulatory environment and with more conservative institutional capital potentially entering the picture if Architect Capital takes control.
If the stake sale proceeds, one of the major strategic questions will be how the new ownership structure affects OnlyFans’ core identity. Architect Capital’s stated goal of improving payment systems for under-banked creators could be positive for those who have historically faced deplatforming, frozen accounts or outright refusals from banks and payment processors. A more sophisticated, regulator-friendly financial infrastructure could make payouts more stable and less vulnerable to sudden policy shifts from third-party providers.
At the same time, a firm looking toward a public listing may push for tighter content moderation and stricter compliance with global standards around adult material, age verification, and cross-border payments. Creators who rely on OnlyFans for adult content monetization may be concerned that a tilt toward mainstream investors could eventually lead to restrictions or a renewed attempt to distance the platform from explicit content — something OnlyFans briefly tried and then reversed in 2021 after substantial backlash.
There is also the question of how aggressively OnlyFans will pursue non-adult verticals under a new majority stakeholder. The platform has already onboarded fitness trainers, influencers, musicians, and other professionals selling premium access or behind-the-scenes content. With new capital and strategic oversight, OnlyFans might double down on these segments, building more tools for community building, branding, and fan management, so that it becomes less vulnerable to regulatory risks tied to the adult industry.
From a broader industry perspective, a successful sale at a multibillion-dollar valuation would be a significant signal for the creator economy as a whole. It would indicate that subscription-based, fan-funded platforms can support large, profitable businesses outside the advertising-dominated models of traditional social media. It would also highlight the ongoing importance of payment processing and financial inclusion in shaping which creators can actually succeed on these platforms.
The company’s crypto experiments may also remain relevant in the background of any future reshaping. If Architect Capital seeks to modernize and diversify payment options, on-chain solutions could theoretically play a role — for example through stablecoins, tokenized rewards, or on-chain identity tools. However, regulatory scrutiny around crypto, especially in relation to adult content and cross-border transfers, could mean any such initiatives are pursued cautiously, if at all.
Ultimately, the outcome of the negotiations will determine whether OnlyFans continues as a largely founder-controlled, privately held powerhouse or begins a transition toward more traditional institutional ownership and, potentially, the public markets. For creators, users and investors watching from the sidelines, the deal talks are more than just a boardroom story: they are a litmus test for how platforms built on intimate, subscriber-based relationships can evolve as they intersect with private equity, regulation, and the fast-changing world of digital finance.