Independent Reserve Review

What is Independent Reserve?

Independent Reserve is Australia's most largest digital currency for sophisticated and institutional investors. Their platform currently has over 200,000 customers and is the most highly traded order book exchange in Australia by a wide margin.

Their platform is governed by Australia's highly regulated financial sector and is considered one of Australia’s best fiat-to-crypto exchanges. They are also a member of Blockchain Australia, which is one of the leading industry bodies in the country.

Trading Fees

Their trading platform has the most competitive fee schedule for investors and traders in Australia. Their starting fee for a buy or sell is 0.50%, which reduces when you trade more volume over a 30 day period. You can see a summary of the 30 day volume discount program below.

Other costs that you need to consider when using cryptocurrency exchanges like Independent Reserve are deposit and withdrawal fees. Fortunately, Independent Reserve offers instant free AUD deposits and withdrawals for PayID or Osko transfers. You can review their full fee schedule here.
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Independent Reserve Features

The Independent Reserve platform offers a host of different features that make it simple for different kinds of investors to get started with cryptocurrency in Australia. These include:

• AUD Pairs for over 30 different cryptocurrencies
• Premium support for SMSFs and OTC investors
• Independent Reserve fees are the best in Australia starting at 0.5% to 0.02%
• Automated tax report co-developed by KPMG
• The deepest liquidity out of all order book exchanges
• Instant buying and selling for convenience

Is Independent Reserve Safe?

Independent Reserve was built from a security first standpoint by world-class engineers. Their platforms core servers are in geographically dispersed data centres across New South Wales, which is the best possible practice for data integrity. Independent Reserve is a licensed digital currency exchange by AUSTRAC and are a privately owned company in Australia with a business ABN 46 164 257 069.

In addition to this, Independent Reserve were the first exchange in the world to be licensed in Singapore by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). They are the only Australian exchange to operate as a regulated provider for Digital Payment Token (DPT) services in Singapore, which highlights that they are highly compliant.

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Independent Reserve Crypto SMSF 

One of our favourite aspects of the Independent Reserve platform is their Self Managed Super Fund (SMSF) accounts. They let you buy and sell cryptocurrencies with your SMSF account with low fees and securely. The exchange is currently being used by over 8,000 SMSFs in Australia and they provide detailed reporting for your SMSF audits.

It can take less than 24 hours to onboard your SMSF account once you provide the following information:

• SMSF Name
• SMSF Trust Deed
• SMSF ABN
• Trustee Information
• Personal Identification

Independent Reserve OTC Desk

The award winning exchange also boasts Australia's leading OTC desk for high net worth, institutional investors and SMSFs to buy Bitcoin in Australia, as well as 20 other cryptocurrencies.

This service is generally the best way to get exposure to digital assets if you are looking to purchase over $100,000 AUD worth of any given cryptocurrency in one hit.

The key advantages of OTC crypto trading are:

• Reduced Slippage: You can lock in a large order at one price, which reduces the risk of getting hit with what is known as 'slippage'.
• Privacy: OTC orders are not visible or reported to the market, this means you will not signal the market and make the price move away from you.
• Deep Liquidity: Easily fill large orders at a great price by tapping into Independent Reserve's global liquidity network.
• White-glove service: Independent Reserve take care of everything for their OTC clients. Simply deposit your AUD, NZD, USD or SGD - request what you would like to buy or sell and they will handle the rest.

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What Countries does Independent Reserve support?

Independent Reserve is currently available in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, with plans to expand into additional countries. They offer native AUD, NZD, SGD and USD banking support, which means you can deposit multiple fiat currencies to start trading on the platform.

Independent Reserve was the first ever exchange to receive their crypto licensed from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and currently holds licenses by AUSTRAC in Australia and regulators in NZ.

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Final Thoughts

Independent Reserve is without doubt Australia's most trusted exchange for investors in Australia. Although their user interface can be slightly more tricky than other retail exchanges like CoinSpot or SwyftX, they provide a far superior user experience. This is highlighted by their low fees, fast deposits/withdrawals and deep liquidity.

They are also the best option for high-net worth or institutional investors that are looking for a secure AUD onramp into the digital asset ecosystem.