Independent Reserve is an Australian-based cryptocurrency exchange that offers a simple, tiered fee structure that starts at a reasonable 0.5% and gradually gets lower as your trade volume increases. The platform has a simple, user-friendly interface, making it a popular choice for investors just getting started with crypto. There is a wide variety of customer-service options, educational resources and robust security measures, and the platform has proven to be reliable and secure with no reported hacks.
However, more experienced traders may be frustrated by its limited advanced trading tools and the number of coins available to trade is substantially lower than many exchanges.
Note: the collapse of FTX and other exchanges in the past have raised concerns about centralised exchanges and their management of user funds. You can read more about the safest ways to store crypto with our dedicated guide.
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface for beginners.
- A wide variety of customer-service options.
- Abundant educational resources.
- Robust security measures with no reported hacks.
Cons
- Comparatively fewer coins available to trade.
- Lower liquidity levels which could impact larger traders.
- Limited advanced features.
- No crypto card available.
Table of Contents
Who Is Independent Reserve Good For?
Independent Reserve may suit beginner investors looking to start their journey on a simple, no-frills platform with robust security measures and a comprehensive library of educational resources.
More experienced investors who plan to simply buy and hold top coins may also find value in Independent Reserve. The platform caters particularly well to institutional and high-net-worth investors thanks to the tiered fee structure and the availability of an over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk for high-volume orders.
While Independent Reserve offers fewer coins and limited advanced features compared to other exchanges, it still provides a reliable trading experience for those who value a streamlined platform.
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What Makes Independent Reserve a Good Choice?
There are several factors that make Independent Reserve a compelling option for cryptocurrency traders:
Competitive fees: Independent Reserve stands out with its simple, low fees ranging from 0.5% to 0.02% depending on the account’s 30-day volume. While not the cheapest on the market, the top fee is still reasonably competitive making it cost-effective for both casual and frequent traders.
User-friendly interface: The platform boasts an easy-to-use interface designed to cater to users with varying levels of trading experience.
Customer service: Independent Reserve offers a wide variety of customer service options to assist users in resolving any issues they may encounter.
Educational resources: The exchange provides abundant educational resources to help users stay informed about the crypto market and make better trading decisions.
Security: Independent Reserve claims that security is at the forefront of everything they do, with a detailed security page that outlines their security practices. Most importantly, the platform keeps the vast amount of customer funds in cold storage in multiple geographically dispersed vaults. With robust security measures in place and no reported hacks, Independent Reserve has established itself as a trustworthy platform.
Regulation: The exchange is registered with AUSTRAC, ensuring that it adheres to stringent anti-money laundering requirements.
Deposit methods: Independent Reserve supports fast deposits through EFT, SWIFT transfers, and Osko/PayID, providing users with a range of convenient funding options.
Independent Reserve’s Disadvantages
Despite its strengths, Independent Reserve has some drawbacks that users should be aware of:
Limited coin selection: The platform currently supports only 30 tradable coins, which may be insufficient for traders interested in a more diverse range of cryptocurrencies.
Lower liquidity levels: Independent Reserve’s lower liquidity levels may impact larger traders who require higher trading volumes. However, sophisticated investors can get access to an over the counter (OTC) trade desk for larger volume trades.
Limited advanced features: The exchange lacks some advanced features that more experienced traders may desire, such as margin trading or advanced charting tools.
No crypto credit card: Unlike some other exchanges, Independent Reserve does not offer a crypto credit card to its users.
Independent Reserve Features
Trading Fees
Independent Reserve offers a competitive and tiered fee structure based on users’ past 30-day trading volume. The trading volume is recalculated every four hours, and order fees are determined at the time the order is placed. Existing open orders will not have their fees adjusted when the trade volume is recalculated.
The table below illustrates the tiered fee structure based on AUD trading volume up to the $2.5 million tier:
[simple_tables id=”96027″]
As users increase their trading volume, they can benefit from lower fees, which makes Independent Reserve an attractive option for both casual and frequent traders. However, to reach the lowest-fee tier, the account must have over $200 million in monthly trade volume, which would be unlikely unless the account was held by an institutional investor.
Security
In the volatile cryptocurrency markets, security remains a paramount concern for users and investors. When choosing a cryptocurrency exchange, it is essential to assess the platform’s security measures, as inadequate safeguards can lead to devastating consequences. A prime example of the dire outcomes that can arise from weak security and poor management of user funds is the infamous 2022 FTX disaster, which resulted in the loss of billions in user funds.
Independent Reserve places a strong emphasis on security, striving to provide a trusted and secure platform for investors to buy, trade and store cryptocurrencies. They follow a risk-averse approach to managing their business, ensuring complete segregation of customer assets, maintaining a 1:1 reserve for all client assets, and storing the majority of these assets in offline cold storage vaults. The exchange also engages external auditors to conduct annual audits of their financial statements and verify all client asset holdings, both fiat and crypto.
The platform offers a variety of account security features, including 2-Factor Authentication (2FA), the ability to change usernames and email addresses, email notifications for logins and security detail changes, and browser and address whitelisting. Users can also benefit from optional security measures such as PGP-signed emails and bot shields to protect their accounts from brute force attacks.
System security is another crucial aspect of Independent Reserve’s approach, with encryption for all personally identifiable information, secure connections, and top-tier data centres with geographically dispersed disaster recovery backup servers. Intrusion detection monitoring is employed to safeguard against unauthorised system access.
Independent Reserve also takes hot wallet security seriously, with over 97% of cryptocurrencies stored in cold storage and multi-layer encryption of hot wallet private keys. The exchange performs continuous monitoring and address reconciliation between system accounts and the blockchain to maintain the integrity of customer funds.
Cold storage security measures include multiple geographically dispersed vaults with extensive physical security, multi-signature withdrawals requiring more than one person for execution, and proprietary offline storage with multiple encryption layers and redundancies. The exchange also has survivorship procedures in place to recover cold storage funds in case of a catastrophic event.
Operational security at Independent Reserve involves regular penetration testing, bug bounty programs, tiered access for administrators, multi-level approvals for actions relating to user accounts or value transfer, and regular police checks on all administrators with system access. The platform also completed external penetration testing in November 2023. Independent Reserve’s robust security measures make it a reliable choice for cryptocurrency trading.
Related: Hardware Wallets Explained
Opening an Independent Reserve Account
Setting up an account with Independent Reserve is a relatively simple and quick process. Users need to provide the necessary information and identity documents in order to complete the know your customer (KYC) verification process.
Once the account is verified, users can fund it with Australian dollars or other supported fiat currencies and begin trading on the platform. Independent Reserve supports deposits using Osko via PayID, allowing for near-instant deposits of AUD to the exchange.
Available Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Tether (USDT)
- USD Coin (USDC)
- Cardano (ADA)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Solana (SOL)
- Stellar (XLM)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Polygon (MATIC)
- Polkadot (DOT)
- Dogecoin (DOGE)
- The Graph (GRT)
- Chainlink (LINK)
- Perth Mint Gold Token (PMGT)
- Dai (DAI)
- OMG Network (OMG)
- Ethereum Classic (ETC)
- Maker (MKR)
- 0x (ZRX)
- Synthetix (SNX)
- Compound (COMP)
- Decentraland (MANA)
- Uniswap (UNI)
- Basic Attention Token (BAT)
- The Sandbox (SAND)
- Aave (AAVE)
- EOS (EOS)
- Yearn Finance (YFI)
Our Methodology
Our in-house team of researchers performed an in-depth assessment of the features and options offered by nearly 50 international and Australian cryptocurrency exchanges, crypto trading apps and brokerage platforms that offer crypto trading options.
The trading fees reflected for each brokerage or crypto exchange are the trading fees for the lowest trade volume, using the most basic version of the platform.
The data addressed 11 key variables to assess the quality of each platform:
- Basic Trading Features: We evaluated the number of cryptocurrencies available to trade, the number of fiat currencies accepted, the exchange’s overall liquidity, and trading fees.
- Advanced Trading Features: We examined the availability of complex trading features such as advanced order types and volume discounts for frequent trading.
- Margin Trading: We assessed margin trading rates, if applicable.
- Platform Availability: We analysed the degree of accessibility to different features by country.
- Customer Service: We evaluated customer support options.
- Educational Resources: We assessed the educational content offered by each platform.
- Crypto Rewards Credit Card: We noted if any platforms offer crypto rewards credit cards.
- Security and Storage: We evaluated the types of storage options, security and insurance available, and any large-scale hacks of each exchange over its lifetime.
- Staking and Rewards: We evaluated whether some platforms allow users to stake selected cryptos and earn interest payments.
- Crypto Lending: We evaluated if some crypto exchanges allow users to lend out their cryptocurrency.
- Registration: We ensured that the exchanges we surveyed were registered with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) to legally provide digital asset exchange services to Australians.
We then used a weighted average of these variables to calculate each platform’s overall score. Our methodology benchmarks the features and options across the crypto exchanges and brokerages we surveyed.
About Star Rankings
You will note that we have included a star rating next to each product or provider. This rating was determined by the editorial team once all of the data points above were considered, and the pros and cons of each product attribute was reviewed. The star rating is solely the view of Forbes Advisor editorial staff. Commercial partners or advertisers have no bearing on the star rating or their inclusion on this list. Star ratings are only one factor to be considered, and Forbes Advisor encourages you to seek independent advice from an authorised financial adviser in relation to your own financial circumstances and investments before you decide to choose a particular financial product or service.
This article is not an endorsement of any particular cryptocurrency, broker or exchange nor does it constitute a recommendation of cryptocurrency or CFDs as an investment class. Cryptocurrency is unregulated in Australia and your capital is at risk. Trading in contracts for difference (CFDs) is riskier than conventional share trading, not suitable for the majority of investors, and includes the potential for partial or total loss of capital. You should always consider whether you can afford to lose your money before deciding to trade in CFDs or cryptocurrency, and seek advice from an authorised financial advisor.
FAQs
How safe is Independent Reserve?
Independent Reserve’s transparency around their security, as well as their comprehensive practices to ensure the security of the platform, gives us a signal that the exchange puts security at the top of its list of priorities. Independent Reserve has not reported any hacks, and the vast majority of cryptocurrencies are stored in cold storage, providing an additional layer of security for users’ funds.
How do I withdraw money from Independent Reserve?
To withdraw money from Independent Reserve, you can simply navigate to the “Withdraw” option (or similar) in your account, select the amount you wish to withdraw and complete the withdrawal process. The exchange supports fast deposits and withdrawals through various methods, including EFT, SWIFT transfers, and Osko/PayID for Australian bank accounts.
What is the safest crypto exchange in Australia?
When choosing a safe crypto exchange available in Australia, options like Independent Reserve, Coinbase and Binance are among the more popular choices for the security-conscious. Each has its own security practices, as well as unique platform differentiators. To get started, we recommend checking out our list of the top crypto exchanges for Australians, which provides an overview of our favourite exchanges available in Australia.
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