Our Review
Independent Reserve has 25+ coins, a 1.68% total fee to buy Bitcoin (9th place) and a good reputation and security serving Australians since 2013.
Overall, Independent Reserve is not the best option for Australians right now. We reviewed over 15 crypto exchanges and found several alternatives with lower prices, more coins and more features on the market right now.
2.8/5
🏆 Overall Better options available |
💰 Fees Above Average |
📲 Features Below Average |
🇦🇺Deposit & Withdrawals Average |
👍 Ease Of Use Average |
🔒 Security Above Average |
Where It Shines:
Where It Falls Short:
Overview
Updated: Sep 5, 2021
📲 Features | Header | 🔐 Security | Header |
|---|---|---|---|
Coins Mobile App Web App Beginner Friendly? Pro Trading Terminal Limit Orders Recurring Buys Bundles Staking Margin Futures OTC 24/7 Support | 25+ Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes | App 2FA Uses Cold Storage? AUSTRAC Regulated? Any Hacks or Incidents? Insurance Policy View Login History Address Whitelisting Crypto Withdrawals Allowed Year Founded Publicly Traded? | Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? Yes Yes 2013 No |
💰 Fees | 0.0/5 | 🏦 Deposits & Withdrawals | 0.0/5 |
$100 Buy After All Fees $100 Sell After All Fees Best Deposit Fee Best Withdrawal Fee Trading Fee BTC Spread (Dec 17, 21) BTC Withdrawal Fee ETH Withdrawal Fee | $98.32 $98.57 Free Free 0.50% 2.13% 0.0003 BTC ? | AUD Fiat Wallet? Direct Bank Transfer POLi PAYid Credit/Debit BPay Other Fiat Currencies | Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes |
- Total fees and spread was tested Dec 17, 2021 and is subject to change
Independent Reserve Compared
We are tracking the 15+ most popular Australian crypto exchanges. Compare the entire industry below:
Coins | Total Purchase Fee | Trading Fees | $AUD Deposits | Beginner Friendly | Advanced Features | Website | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
600+ | 0.15% | 0.10% | Yes | No | Yes | ||
18 | 1.24% | 0.85% | Yes | No | Yes | ||
110+ | 4.50% | 2.90%* | No | Yes | No | ||
50+ | 1.09% | 0% - 2.00% | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
30+ | 0.14% + $50 | 0.10% | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
370+ | 1.89% | 0.10% - 1% | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
280+ | 2.36% | 0.05% - 0.9% | Yes | Yes | No | ||
150+ | 1.30% | 0.00% | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
270+ | 1.04% | 0.50% | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
150+ | 1.45% | 1.00% | Yes | Yes | No | ||
30 | - | 0% | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
27+ | 1.68% | 0.50% | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
50+ | 0.43% | 0.16% / 0.26% | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
700+ | 2.23% | 0.10% | Yes | No | Yes | ||
270+ | 0.41% | 0.08% - 0.1% | No | No | Yes | ||
320+ | 0.95% | 0.60% | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Screenshots
Updated: Sep 5, 2021
About Independent Reserve
Independent Reserve is one of Australia's oldest crypto exchanges. They were founded in 2013 and have their headquarters in Sydney. Their goal according to the website is to, "build Australia's most secure and trusted way to buy Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies."
They have a strong focus on security, 27 coins you can trade and over 200k customers in Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia. In this review, we'll cover the ins and outs of the platform.
Company Stats
- 200,000+ Australia and New Zealand users
- Founded in 2013
- 4 fiat currencies (AUD, USD, NZD, SGD)
Are They Legit?
Yes, Independent Reserve is an AUSTRAC regulated company and a registered Digital Currency Exchange (DCE) in the country of Australia. They also have a strong focus on security.
Verification
Updated: Sep 5, 2021
Application Time | 10 minutes or less |
KYC Verification | Yes |
Instant Verification | Yes |
Manual Verification | 1-2 business days |
Sign Up Requirements |
|
Independent Reserve has a very strict application process. By law, they must verify your identity so have your documents ready. The entire application can take 5-10 minutes before you're ready to start trading.
Security
Updated: Sep 5, 2021
Can You Trust Independent Reserve?
Independent Reserve is considered a safe crypto exchange and offers more security features than most platforms. They're a regulated Australian company, they offer many security settings like 2FA and they have never been hacked or lost users funds. They've also been operating since 2013 which is a long track record in the crypto industry.
They are considered trustworthy however, it's important to keep in mind no crypto exchange is 100% safe. There is always a small risk of getting hacked, pulling an exit scam and more.
The safest way to store your crypto is by owning your private keys. For large amounts of crypto or long term holdings, we recommend getting a hardware wallet for secure offline storage.
Company Security Features
- Registered and regulated AUSTRAC company
- Users funds are held in offline storage (they don't say how much)
- Their hardware wallets are geographically distributed, guarded by security and stored in vaults. Requires biometric authentication to access
- Multiple data servers in different locations
- Messages are encrypted when speaking with customer support and automatically monitored for suspicious activity
- See the rest here
User Security Features
- 2 Factor Authentication (via Google authenticator or phone number)
- Optional Duress Password (a second password that will immediately suspend your account for 24 hours if used)
- Browser and device whitelisting
- View login history
- Turn on/off Email PGP Signing (verify that you're getting authentic emails)
- Insure your crypto up to $5m AUD (paid feature)
Other Security Notes
- Founded way back in 2013 (which is a long time in the crypto world)
- Experienced advisory board and executive team
- Good reputation overall
Deposit & Withdrawals
Updated: Feb 17, 2022
AUD Deposit Methods
Type | Fee | Time | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
PayID/Osko | Free (deposits over $1,000) $2.50 (deposits under $1,000) | Near Instant | $20,000 per 24 hours |
Direct Bank Transfer | Free (deposits over $100) $0.99 (deposits under $100 | 1-2 days | ? |
AUD Withdrawal Methods
Type | Fee | Time | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
PayID/Osko | $1.50 | ? | ? |
Direct Bank Transfer | Free | 0-1 days | ? |
Crypto Withdrawal Fees
Coin | Fee | Minimum Withdrawal |
|---|---|---|
Bitcoin | 0.0003 BTC | 0.0001 BTC |
Ethereum | 0.006 ETH | 0.01 ETH |
Independent Reserve Fees & Spread
Updated: Feb 16, 2022
Fee Type | Amount |
|---|---|
Trading Fee | Up to 0.50% |
AUD Deposits | Free - $2.50 |
AUD Withdrawals | Free - $1.50 |
BTC Spread | 2.13% (Feb 6, 2022) |
Trading Volume Discount
Independent Reserve Price Test (Feb 6, 2022)
This data is subject to change as spreads and prices change daily. However, we tested Independent Reserve and 10+ other platforms to help you compare true fees on each platform.
Header | Amount | Ranking |
|---|---|---|
$100 Buy After All Fees | $98.32 (1.68% total fee) | 9th place |
$100 Sale After All Fees | $98.57 (1.43% total fee) | 9th place |
BTC Spread | 2.13% | 12th place |
BTC Buy Price | $59,159 AUD | - |
BTC Sell Price | $57,924 AUD | - |
Ref. Price Difference | Buy: +1.18% Sell: -0.93% | - |
Reference Price (Google) | $58,468 | - |
The "$100 After All Fees" adds everything from when you deposit money to make your order plus the reference price difference.
The price test was conducted by logging into all platforms simultaneously and collecting buy/sell orders. We did this as quickly as possible (within minutes) in order to be as accurate as possible since prices can change rapidly. Find out more about our testing process.
Independent Reserve had a total purchase fee of 1.68% for buying Bitcoin. This was 9th place overall. The total fee to sell Bitcoin and cash out AUD was 1.43% which was also 9th place. After testing over a dozen platforms, Independent Reserve is not the cheapest option right now.
We found cheaper Australian crypto exchanges such as Binance, Kraken and many more. See all Australian crypto exchanges we tested.
Platform & Features
Updated: Sep 5, 2021
Independent Reserve has limited features and coins compared to competitors. Here is a breakdown of the product and offerings:
List of Features:
- Web App and Mobile App
- AutoBuys
- Recurring orders
- AutoBasket
- 24/7 customer support
- Crypto Insurance (paid)
- Premium Account Plans (paid)
- Tax Summary (paid)
- OTC desk, SMSF and high net worth accounts
- Affiliate program
1. Trading Interface
Independent reserves has multiple ways of purchasing cryptocurrencies. On the "trade" page you can set market orders, limit orders and stop prices. It also shows the live order book and you can toggle between 4 fiat currencies (AUD, USD, NZD, SGD). Keep in mind, there are no price charts on the platform.
There is also the "AutoTrader" feature which gives you additional ways to trade including:
- AutoBuys - Automatically buy crypto when you make a fiat deposit
- AutoBasket - Buy a weighted basket of cryptocurrencies (eg. 80% BTC, 20% ETH). The basket is not customizable
- AutoSchedule - Set up recurring orders based on a fully customizable schedule and settings
2. Crypto Insurance
You can pay to insure your crypto assets up to $5 million AUD. At the time of this writing the price starts at $300 AUD per year for $20k in coverage Their website states:
"A Premium Account plan insures you against a loss of any cryptocurrency that is held in an Independent Reserve wallet. The policy covers any breach of Independent Reserve's physical security measures and employee theft."
Here's more info on how the insurance works and the current prices below:
3. Premium Account Plans
Premium accounts are mainly based off the insurance packages above, which are a yearly price. However, there's also some extra perks included such as:
- Premium support - skip the queue to get faster responses
- Free merchandise sent to your address
- Lower fees on some plans, as low as 0.02%
4. Multiple Account Types
- Personal Accounts
- OTC Desk (over $100k+ orders)
- SMSF
- High Net-worth & Family Offices
- Premium Accounts with Insurance
- Adviser Program
5. Affiliate Program
Get paid for inviting your friends and new users to join Independent Reserve. You will earn 50% of all their brokerage fees for the first 90 days.
Customer Support
Updated: Sep 5, 2021
Independent Reserve is one of the only Australian-based platforms to offer 24/7 customer support and they typically reply within a few hours based on my experience. To chat with their team team, you can open a support ticket and send messages from inside your account. They also offer a help desk with FAQs, blogs and free crypto tutorials.
If you pay for a Premium Account your support messages automatically skip the queue to get faster responses.
FAQ
Research underway.
Research underway.
Research underway.
