Local digital currency exchange Independent Reserve adds two new execs, turns to institutions
Independent Reserve, the Australian Digital Currency exchange, has added two executives to its senior management team as the company turns its attention to its growing stable of institutional and SMSF clients.
Roman Stefanidi joined Independent Reserve as Chief Technology Officer in August, and Lasanka Perera as Head of Strategy in October. CEO Adrian Przelozny said the firm was now well positioned to grow as it focuses on institutional clientele.
“Digital Currency has reached a level of awareness now where we’re seeing investors who have been waiting on the sidelines starting to enter the market,” he said. “Factors like the the new regulation by AUSTRAC, emerging ETFs and crypto hedgefunds, new Bitcoin futures, and the growing mainstream acceptance of Bitcoin as an asset have given institutional and SMSF investors a level of comfort they haven’t had before. Our platform was designed to meet the needs of this group of investors and working with our institutional partners is our biggest focus in this next phase of our growth.”
Mr Perera, who was a co-founder of Independent Reserve joined from corporate finance and FX advisory Tat Capital, said coming on board full time was the culmination of four years’ work since the exchange was founded in 2013. He brings with him a wealth of financial markets experience as the firm looks to solidify its position as the number one Digital Currency destination for institutional investors and traders.
“This is such an exciting space and the opportunity in Australia is absolutely huge,” he said. “It’s a great time to be in Digital Currency with the new regulation coming and the market maturing so fast. I’m really excited for 2018.”
Mr Stefanidi, who has held senior technology roles at companies including Challenger, Westpac, Credit Suisse and Barclays Capital, said the platform was well positioned for future growth.
“This is a robust, scalable platform built to meet the demands of institutions,” he said. “It’s always been the plan to focus more on that side of the business and it’s exciting for me to join as this is coming about.”
Independent Reserve has grown by over 100 times in user numbers and volume since this time last year. The exchange adds 1-2,000 new users, and takes in deposits of $15-20 million, per day. The firm is working with a number of institutional investors and traders, and a growing user base of self-managed super funds who want to add Digital Currency assets to their portfolios.
