Australia’s colourful cryptocurency kings who have invested in the NRL and AFL

From mammoth deals with Australia’s biggest sporting codes to the crypto crash that left their industry in peril. Here are key players in the country’s cryptocurrency game.

They have made multi-million dollar deals with Australia’s biggest sporting codes and have weathered the crypto crash that left their industry in peril.

Here are some of the the major players running the country’s cryptocurrency industry.

FRED SCHEBESTA, FINDER WALLET

In June last year, crypto king Fred Schebesta was on fire — literally.

The co-founder of comparison website Finder.com set his beard aflame in a TikTok filmed to predict the Bitcoin price soar to $100,000.

Finder.com.au founder Fred Schebesta in his "Crypto Castle" at South Coogee. Picture: John Appleyard

His optimism came despite plunges in the price in late 2021 and early 2022 that saw it fall from a peak of about $87,000 in early November to a low of about $24,000 in late December.

It was bad news for Mr Schebesta’s new crypto exchange, Finder Wallet, which in just a year had garnered about $19.5m worth of deposits.

Adding to his woes, at about the same time the corporate watchdog also hit Finder Wallet with legal action, accusing it of breaking the law by offering its Finder Earn product, where users could earn interest on their crypto holdings, without a licence.

Federal Court judge Brigitte Markovic heard the case last month and is yet to hand down a decision. A Finder.com spokesman declined to comment on the case but said all customer money was returned.

Australia's Crypto King Fred Schebesta in a video where his beard catches on fire. Picture:TikTok

Mr Schebesta, who these days is holed up in his $17m mansion, dubbed “Crypto Castle”, atop Coogee’s cliffs in beachside Sydney, is not the only exchange operator strapped in for a white-knuckle ride as they rode the sector’s financial rollercoaster over the past three years.

KARL MOHAN, CRYPTO.COM

In January last year the then AFL boss, Gill McLachlan, trumpeted a five-year, $25m sponsorship deal with Crypto.com – part of a global marketing push that also included an ad during the Superbowl featuring Matt Damon.

Kylie Rogers, AFL executive general manager commercial and Karl Mohan, Crypto.com general manager Asia & Pacific. Picture: Jonathan Di Maggio

Matt Damon, the Oscar-winner became the face of crypto.com last year. Picture: Supplied

Mr McLachlan said it was “one of the most significant corporate partner deals since the Covid-19 pandemic” and posed for a happy snap alongside the local boss of the exchange, Karl Mohan, who was formerly the Australian boss of Wirecard, a global payment company that collapsed in 2020 after a massive accounting fraud was exposed back in its home country of Germany.

By the end of last year the Australian arm of Crypto.com was wading in red ink, declaring a loss of $28.6m as of December 31, down from a modest profit of $119,500 in 2021, in accounts filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

The accounts show the local company’s ability to keep going depended on borrowing money from related parties or raise fresh cash – although it predicted “a positive cash inflow” this year.

“We are pleased to remain cash flow positive with a growing user base and product portfolio,” a company spokesman said, adding that it remained “fully committed” to the AFL deal.

ANGUS GOLDMAN AND ALEX HARPER, SWYFTX

Accounts filed with ASIC by a big local player, Swyftx, show that the good times were very good.

Its accounts run to the end of June last year, denying readers a view of the crypto apocalypse.

The company made $36.7m last year, on top of $48.2m in 2021 – enough to pay dividends of $52m to shareholders who include its 29-year-old founders, Alex Harper and Angus Goldman.

It was also doing well enough to sign a three-year, $16.23m deal to sponsor the NRL.

Angus Goldman and Alex Harper founded cryptocurrency powerhouse Swyftyx in 2018.

L to R: Swyftx CEO Ryan Parsons and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo announce a three year partnership between NRL and Swyftx. Picture: Salty Dingo

In September last year Mr Harper’s ambitions included flying on one of Elon Musk’s rockets to Mars – but only when the billionaire offers a return ticket, he told Forbes.

But since then things have been a lot tougher. Swyftx quietly closed its Swyftx Earn product following ASIC’s legal action against Finder Wallet, and also backed out of a takeover of share trading platform Superhero citing “volatility in the market as well as the current regulatory environment”.

It also sacked scores of workers, with its headcount shrinking from 289 in June last year to 100 today.

A spokesman said the company hopes to bring Earn back under new laws being considered by the Albanese government.

“We welcome the Government’s proposals for regulating the sector and continue to engage positively with the Treasury and national regulators,” he said.

Originally published as Australia’s colourful cryptocurency kings who have invested in the NRL and AFL