The Untold Story of Australia’s Reclusive Crypto King Russell Wilson Who Paid Himself $538Million
By Kevin Airs
Russell Wilson has paid himself $538m in share dividends His cryptocurrency exchange run out of backstreet office CoinSpot was fleeced for $37million by UK thieves in 2017 It boomed during the Covid crypto spike with huge profits.
A cryptocurrency trader has earned more than half a billion dollars from his company run out of a backstreet office next to a pilates studio and a masseuse. Russell Ty Wilson, 42, pocketed $538million over the last two years from dividends paid out by his CoinSpot Bitcoin exchange, company documents revealed. The company posted back-to-back bumper profits of $292million from $503million of revenue in 2022, a year after raking in even bigger profits of $334million The astonishing returns saw the business pay total dividends of $699million over the past couple of years, despite falling victim to a scam that cost it $37million in 2018.
Reclusive Mr Wilson owns 77 per cent of CoinSpot through his company, Casey Block Services, earning him the payday bonanza and a likely spot on Australia’s Rich List.
But despite its huge nine-figure profits, CoinSpot is not based at the top end of town in Melbourne’s CBD alongside glitzy multinational conglomerates.
Instead, its registered HQ is a humble single-storey federation building, shared with Precision Pilates and Kala Body remedial massage therapist, in inner-city Windsor.
And Mr Wilson himself has seemingly shunned ritzy suburbs like Toorak and Brighton to remain in the city’s south-western fringes around Dandenong where he was born.
He owns a modest four-bedroom McMansion in a quiet cul-de-sac in nearby Berwick which he bought with partner Kellie Wilson, 39, in 2014 for $586,500.
Other family members also own a small share in the crypto exchange, with Clinton and Cindy Wilson, 40, sharing a three per cent stake, which earned them almost $21million in dividend payouts.
Co-founder Brendan Halfpenny owns another 10 per cent – worth almost $70million in dividends – as does Melbourne investor Claude Huber.
CoinSpot accounts say it took in revenue of $171m from transaction fees last year, $287m from crypto ‘trade facilitation’, and $42m from ‘staking rewards income’, reported The Australian.
A total dividend of $336.05m was paid for the 2021 financial year, then $282m for 2022 followed by a further $81m dividend declared after June 30 last year. It also paid $143million in corporate tax in 2021 followed by another $125million last year.
Mr Wilson set up CoinSpot in 2013 as one of the first crypto traders in the country and has grown ever since, but profits soared in the wake of the recent crypto boom.
