It’s hard to avoid Ryan Reynolds these days. The Canadian actor-turned-entrepreneur has made quite a name for himself in the business world following several high-profile investments since the late 2010s. Amazingly, this business acumen has earned Reynolds a personal fortune of around $350m.

However, one of his most recent involvements – payment processor Nuvei – is slightly more abstract than his other investments.

Wrexham AFC

An actor since 1993, Reynolds is most famous for the motormouth superhero Deadpool. He also (infamously) starred in the critical bomb Green Lantern back in 2011.

He got his big break in 1998, starring in the hit sitcom Two Guys and a Girl, where he played the troublesome Berg. Reynolds’ output has been more limited recently, with just one movie cameo – Ghosted, starring Chris Evans and Ana de Armas – to his name in 2023.

Outside of Hollywood, Reynolds’ biggest claim to fame was his purchase of the Welsh football team Wrexham AFC as RR McReynolds Company, alongside fellow actor Rob McElhenney. This ultimately led to the production of a popular Netflix show about the club, Welcome to Wrexham, and the side’s promotion to the English Football League in 2023 for the first time in more than a decade. 

Reynolds has been, and, in some cases, still is, involved with companies like F1 Team Alpine, the Ottawa Senators, and the Maximum Effort movie production company. In addition, Mint Mobile is one of his biggest successes to date, though this brand was offloaded to T-Mobile for $1.35bn in 2023.

This leads us to Nuvei and the question of how a payments processor endeavor is bound to turn into another entrepreneurial success story for Reynolds.

Borderless Commerce

As shoppers move to more digital styles of currency, payment facilitators have become one of the world’s major growth industries. The payment processing solution market niche was worth $47.61 billion in 2022, with projections suggesting that it could steadily continue to increase in size by 14.5% a year to 2030.

Of course, this growth is driven by the internet, which has allowed borderless commerce. Amazon is the obvious example, even though a range of payment options is critical for just about every business.

For example, a choice of payment options is vital in the entertainment industry, where casino operators vie for top positions in local and international markets. Reputable sources such as the CASINOenquirer, an independent site providing online casino reviews, note that a suitable payment processor can help players avoid pitfalls like currency conversion fees.

Unsurprisingly, many players research factors like payment methods to consider the ease with which they can deposit and withdraw from casino sites and the diversity of the payment methods/platforms accepted.

Nuvei is a payments platform that provides all-in-one access to more than 150 different currencies, which is a seriously brag-worthy USP. Oddly enough, Ryan Reynolds claims to have no payment industry experience (he seemingly joined up with Nuvei as it’s a Canadian business).

Even so, one thing about the company says everything anybody would ever need to know about the partnership – it gets through $100bn in payments annually. Even without knowing the details behind that kind of cash movement, it’s easy to see how it might translate to profit.

While his clownish personality might hint at the opposite, Ryan Reynolds boasts a shrewd business acumen for clever investments, which very few can argue with.