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Independent Reserve Review

Independent Reserve is an Australian-based cryptocurrency exchange. The company provides a platform for New Zealanders to buy and sell various cryptocurrencies on an exchange.
Updated 7 August 2023
Independent Reserve is a popular cryptocurrency exchange based in Sydney and provides services tailored for New Zealand residents. The company already caters to thousands of Kiwi crypto traders and is one of the few exchange platforms accepting New Zealand dollar deposits for trading crypto on the exchange. 

Summary:
  • Independent Reserve accepts deposits and issues accounts denominated in NZD, AUD, SGD and USD.
  • The exchange supports 27 cryptocurrencies for deposits, withdrawals and trading.
  • The Independent Reserve platform supports various order types for exchange trading. The platform also supports automated cryptocurrency trading strategies, a cryptocurrency wallet and an OTC service for orders about AU$100,000.
  • Independent Reserve offers an app for both iOS and Android devices.
  • The company offers 24/7 support, which is reasonable considering the cryptocurrency markets are decentralised and operate on weekends and bank holidays.
  • Independent Reserve has been featured in The Australian Financial Review, 7NEWS, News.com.au, and Independent Reserve price charts are regularly referenced in 9NEWS articles.
  • The company has many great reviews on Google Reviews, Trustpilot and other review sites.
  • The website claims to serve over 200,000 Australian, New Zealand and international customers. The claim seems justified considering Independent Reserve receives a few hundred thousand website visitors monthly, with 80% from Australia and 10% from New Zealand.
  • The company has several awards and notable recognitions, such as being featured in the Deloitte Tech Fast 50 Australia, Financial Times High Growth Companies 2020 and Australian Financial Review’s Most Innovative Companies.
  • Independent Reserve is a gold member of the Blockchain Australia association, and the company’s CEO is a board member of the association.
 
To explain Independent Reserve in detail, our guide covers:
Warning:
  1. By publishing this guide, we are not recommending or suggesting in any way or form that Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency is a suitable investment.
  2. We published and update this guide to help people understand the Independent Reserve platform - MoneyHub is conservative, and our publisher, Christopher Walsh, has zero Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency investments.
  3. We present this information in good faith and remain objective at all times. ​By including this guide under our Investing and Saving section, we are not advocating that cryptocurrency is an investment. We may earn a referral bonus for anyone that clicks on some of the below links - see our Advertising Policy for more details.​​

Introduction to Independent Reserve

Independent Reserve is a registered Australian company (ABN 46 164 257 069) headquartered at Level 26, 44 Market Street, Sydney, 2000, New South Wales, Australia.

Two Bitcoin enthusiasts founded independent Reserve in 2013, a period when Bitcoin began gaining mainstream media attention. In 2015, co-founder and CEO Adam Tepper died in a motorcycle accident in Thailand. Co-founder Adrian Przelozny assumed the role of CEO and continued to run the company. 

The company describes a robust governance structure on its website, which is clearly important when considering how vulnerable a company can be if it’s in the hands of one person. The site notes that its advisory board is chaired by Mike Tilley, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch Australia and other experts.

Independent Reserve is a cryptocurrency exchange, similar to a stock exchange where participants buy and sell from each other. The model differs from other popular cryptocurrency trading services in New Zealand, such as Easy Crypto, which define itself as a ‘retailer’ and acts as brokers for other exchanges.

Although Independent Reserve isn’t licensed or authorised as a digital asset exchange, part of the companies activities is regulated by AUSTRAC. Under Australian anti-money laundering and counter financing terrorism laws, the company is obligated to report to the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC). AUSTRAC requires reporting entities to follow know-your-customer procedures and report certain transactions to the agency.​

How to create an Independent Reserve account

Per Australian regulations and general anti-money laundering best practices, Independent Reserve requires complete identity verification before allowing you to deposit funds and begin trading. The platform also boasts several security features to keep your account safe.

Account verification

To verify your Independent Reserve account, you’ll need to provide the following details:
  • Create a unique username;
  • Create a password to access the account. Always use a unique password that isn’t used for other online accounts you have;
  • Define the purpose of your account and source of funds, for example, your wages or salary;
  • Enter your date of birth, which must match your identity document;
  • Your country of residence;
  • Mobile phone number, which is verified by a one time code sent to you by SMS;
  • Email address, which is verified by clicking a link in an email sent to your inbox;
  • Upload your valid government-issued photo ID, such as a passport or driver's license;
  • You need to upload a selfie with you holding the same government-issued photo ID and a note saying "Independent Reserve DD/MM/YYYY"; and
  • Finally, you need to upload a utility bill or bank statement to verify your address.

Security features

Once your Independent Reserve account is created, you should utilise the accounts security features. 
  • Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): 2FA is a common tool used to protect online accounts. If 2FA is enabled, your accounts cannot be accessed even if your password is compromised. The most common tool for 2FA is the Google Authenticator app, available on iOS and Android devices.
  • Duress password: You can set a duress password which, when entered instead of your standard account password, causes your Independent Reserve account to be suspended for 24-hours. If you’re being coerced to log in to your account or expose your password, the duress password will protect your funds.

Buying and selling cryptocurrencies on Independent Reserve

Independent Reserve offers various features for trading cryptocurrencies. This section offers an overview of what’s available.

Trading platform & order types

Independent Reserve offers a simple web trading platform that features TradingView charts and simple graphs and tables for showing the order book and market depth chart. They also offer a mobile app for both iOS and Android devices.
​The platform supports the following common order types: market orders, limit orders and stop-limit orders. 

Independent Reserve fees

  • Trading fees: Trading fees start from 0.5% and fall based on a 30-day rolling volume-based discount scheme. If you trade more than AU$100,000 cumulatively in the past 30 days, you’ll apply for the first discount tier, which is 0.48%. The lowest trading fee possible is 0.2%, available after trading over AU$20 million.
  • NZD deposits: New Zealand dollar deposits below NZ$5,000 incur a fee of NZ$15.
  • NZD withdrawals: NZ$20 is charged on all withdrawals.
  • Cryptocurrency deposits: Free
  • Cryptocurrency withdrawals: A small fee is applied to all crypto withdrawals. For example, BTC 0.0003 is charged for making a Bitcoin withdrawal, equivalent to NZ$20 (at the time of writing).

Cryptocurrency wallet

Independent Reserve operates a cryptocurrency wallet to support the exchange trading functions. The wallet isn’t designed for general spending of your crypto; it can be better described as an account to perform trading functions. For example, funds from your wallet are blocked to cover limit orders. Similarly, when one of your orders is filled, the funds are settled in your wallet.​

OTC trading desk

OTC stands for over-the-counter. The OTC trading desk is a service for making very large transactions off the exchange. Suppose you wanted to buy $300,000 of Bitcoin, by placing the order on one exchange, it would be filled against many sell orders from the order book, resulting in a worse average price. An OTC trading desk acts as a broker by splitting your order across multiple exchanges. OTC trading offers less slippage and access to deeper liquidity for filling large transactions.

AutoTrader

The AutoTrader feature lets you configure three auto-trading functions: AutoBuy, AutoBasket and AutoSchedule.
  • AutoBuy: If the AutoBuy function is configured, it will automatically use your deposit to buy selected cryptocurrencies when you deposit dollars to your account.
  • AutoBasket: The AutoBasket function is similar to the AutoBuy function, except a basket of multiple cryptocurrencies is purchased. The basket’s contents vary according to their weight in the capitalisation of the entire cryptocurrency market based on CoinMarketCap data. For example, if you deposit $100 to your Independent Reserve account and the current weightings are 70% Bitcoin, 20% Ethereum, 5% Cardano and 5% Ripple, then the AutoBasket strategy will buy you $70 worth of Bitcoin, $20 worth of Ethereum, $5 worth of Cardano and $5 worth of Ripple.
  • AutoSchedule: The AutoSchedule function lets you configure rules to buy specified cryptocurrencies at certain times automatically. For example, if you have $200 in your account, you can schedule to buy $50 of Bitcoin every Monday for the next four weeks.

API trading

​Independent Reserve offers various API technologies to connect to its exchange. The exchange offers connectivity via FIX API for active traders, which is a common messaging protocol used by capital markets participants, such as banks, market makers, prime brokers, and exchanges.
 
The company also offers a JSON-based API for third-party developers to build applications that connect to Independent Reserve servers.

Cryptocurrencies supported by Independent Reserve

​Independent Reserve supports the following cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Tether USD, Solana, Sandbox, Decentraland, Cardano, Aave, Basic Attention Token, Bitcoin Cash, Compound, Dai, Dogecoin, Polkadot, EOS, Ethereum Classic, The Graph, Chainlink, Litecoin, Polygon, Maker, OMG Network, Perth Mint Gold Token, Synthetix Network Token, Uniswap, USD Coin, Stellar Lumens, yearn.finance and 0x.

Independent Reserve - Pros and Cons

Pros:
  • Multi-currency order book. Most exchanges supporting multiple base currencies operate independent markets for each currency pair. For example, Binance operates separate order books for BTC/USDT, BTC/EUR, BTC/GBP and BTC/AUD, each with different spreads and depth of market (liquidity). A spot currency exchange operation is performed when you place orders on the Independent Reserve exchange, allowing the platform to consolidate all orders into one exchange.
  • Independent Reserve has a strong reputation in Australia’s blockchain scene and substantial mainstream media recognition. The company seems to take compliance and money laundering risks seriously, which is essential to maintaining the integrity of a cryptocurrency exchange.

Cons:
  • High deposit and withdrawal fees. Because NZD deposits to the Independent Reserve are transferred via SWIFT rather than a local transfer to a New Zealand bank account, the company charges NZ$15 for deposits below NZ$5,000 and NZ$20 for all withdrawals, regardless of value. 
  • The liquidity is lower than other exchanges. For example, there is 38 BTC on the sell-side available to buy at the time of writing. In contrast, the BTC/USDT liquidity on Binance is over 200 BTC on the sell-side. However, the BTC/AUD liquidity on Binance is 57 BTC on the sell-side, comparable to Independent Reserve.
  • The spreads are higher than other exchanges. For example, on Independent Reserve, the current BTC/NZD spread is NZ$790, and the BTC/AUD spread is AU$77, whereas, on Binance, it’s AU$33.1.

Alternatives to Independent Reserve - Easy Crypto vs Swyftx vs Binance vs LocalBitcoins

We compare three popular and trusted options below:

Easy Crypto

  • Payment methods: POLI instant pay, local NZ bank transfer, debit and credit cards.
  • Fees: All fees are included in the spread, which is why the bid and offer prices might look higher than other platforms. The fees are around 0.70% to 0.90%. 
  • Minimum order size: NZ$50
  • Settlement: Private wallet
  • Coins available: 109, including Bitcoin
  • Learn more: ​Easy Crypto

Swyftx

  • Payment methods: To buy Bitcoin with New Zealand dollars on Swyftx, only bank transfers are permitted.
  • Withdrawal fees: Minimum withdrawal of NZ$30 with a NZ$10 withdrawal fee.
  • Trading fees: 0.6% platform fee on the value of the transaction. Swyftx states that it offers high volume discounts.
  • Verification requirements: The steps from signup to trade are simple - first, users create an account (by entering their name and details). Then, Swyftx verifies your ID (via photo ID, phone number and email address) and, once done, asks for a deposit (made via bank transfer). Once the deposit has cleared, users can start trading.
  • Limits: Daily deposit limit up to NZ$50,000, no trading limits.
  • Markets available: Various
  • More details: Visit Swyftx and/or read our Swyftx review.

Binance

  • Payment methods: Debit/credit card via third-party payment provider Simplex
  • Fees: Card processing fees are 3.5% with a minimum fee of US$10. When withdrawing Bitcoin, for example to your private wallet, there is a withdrawal fee of 0.0005 BTC, approximately NZ$28
  • Minimum order size: The minimum order size is the equivalent of US$30, which is approximately NZ$46
  • Settlement: On an account
  • Coins available: With a bank card, you can buy 18 different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. On the exchange, there is hundreds of coins are available to trade once you have an account funded with crypto
  • Learn more: ​Binance​ or read our Binance Review

LocalBitcoins

  • Payment methods: It depends on your agreement with the seller
  • Fees: A fee of 1% is charged to the party which listed the ad on the platform, other fees might be priced into the offer from the seller
  • Minimum order size: The seller sets the minimum order size
  • Settlement: Private wallet
  • Coins available: Bitcoin only
  • Learn More: LocalBitcoins

Independent Reserve - Frequently Asked Questions

We answer common questions below to help further explain Independent Reserve's offering:

Is Independent Reserve regulated?

Not yet. Independent Reserve is not regulated in Australia, where the company is headquartered, nor is it licensed or registered in New Zealand. The company has recently received Approval in Principle from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to become a regulated provider for digital payment token services. If Independent Reserve is granted a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, it will be the company’s first license.

Is Independent Reserve registered with the FSPR?

No. Independent Reserve is not registered with the Financial Service Providers Register in New Zealand.

Do I need to create a Bitcoin wallet to use Independent Reserve?

You do not need to create a cryptocurrency wallet to trade on the Independent Reserve exchange. However, you should always keep in mind that exchanges are a target of hackers who may attempt to steal your cryptocurrency holdings.

Is Independent Reserve available in New Zealand?

Yes. Independent Reserve is available in New Zealand.

Is Independent Reserve a scam?

As a general warning, you should always be careful when dealing with any cryptocurrency company, as scams are high in this niche. Based on the amount of media coverage and high profile partnerships this company has, it seems extremely unlikely that Independent Reserve is a scam. If you’re concerned about Bitcoin scams, read our Bitcoin and Crypto Scams in New Zealand Guide.

What is Blockchain Australia?

Blockchain Australia is an association that advocates for the development of the blockchain sector in Australia. The organisation establishes standards, conducts self-regulation amongst members and aims to build and maintain the sector’s integrity.
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