“[The existing brand] always been a hurdle for us, so this deal will make it much clearer to a new group of people what we do,” Mr Przelozny said.
Independent Reserve has long been a proponent of increased regulation around cryptocurrencies and digital ledger technology in Australia. Most recently, Mr Przelozny made a submission to Treasury’s consultation token mapping process, an exercise designed to map out the use-cases for different tokens and smart contracts.
“We’ve been trying to push this government, and the government before that, and the government before that, to develop some minimum standards for how digital assets are stored,” Mr Przelozny said.
As it stands in Australia, there are no minimum IT security standards or external audits required for crypto exchanges, but the high-profile collapse of the world’s third-largest crypto exchange, FTX, last year has prompted the new Albanese government to pledge to release regulation sometime in 2023.
Aside from its operations in Australia, Independent Reserve has received a licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, giving it the right to do business in what is emerging as the “crypto capital” in Asia with the most advanced regulations.
However, the onslaught of low-quality crypto projects broadcast on social media and the blurred lines between what constitutes a financial product and what doesn’t, caused Singapore officials to roll out a ban on advertising crypto products about 12 months ago.
Independent Reserve is established in Singapore, recently moving its co-founder and chief operating officer Lasanka Perera into the Singapore chief executive role last month.
While retail customer growth has slowed for exchanges across the world – high-profile exchange collapses and tightening monetary policy has kept a lid on risky investments – Independent Reserve is also looking towards Hong Kong as a promising market.
Despite China’s countrywide ban on cryptocurrency use, Hong Kong will roll out new regulation in June that will require crypto trading platforms to be licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission.
