New Bitcoin exchange launched as interest
rises in digital currency – Independent Reserve
21 October 2014 (Sydney): Independent Reserve, the Bitcoin market, today announced the
opening of its new exchange based in Sydney, Australia.
CEO Adam Tepper said Independent Reserve would add a valuable source of liquidity to the
growing global Bitcoin market. In a pre-launch survey with almost 450 people around the world,
Independent Reserve found that while only 8 % had used Bitcoin, more than half felt they
understood Bitcoin and over 75 % definitely or possibly planned to find out more in the near future.
Independent Reserve’s Bitcoin Use Survey was conducted with 442 consumers aged between 18
and 74, 44 % female and 56 % male. 20 % of respondents said they definitely planned to use
Bitcoin in the future, while 60 % said they possibly would.
“The use and ownership of Bitcoins is growing steadily, and those who use them or are interested
in using them want a safe, secure place to buy, sell and store them,” he said. “Our team has a solid
background in finance as well as IT, bringing the rigour of a financial services framework to the new
Bitcoin industry.
“Our proprietary technology includes many levels of safeguards to ensure users are well protected.
We have the last mover advantage, and have spent thousands of hours on R&D and learning from
other venues to make sure our platform is completely robust,” he said.
Around the world, regulators, central banks and tax offices have been looking at Bitcoin, with some
new regulation emerging. In Australia, the tax office announced In August that it would treat Bitcoin
as an asset, while in New Zealand the Reserve Bank has simply stated that Bitcoin owners and
operators don’t need its approval. Independent Reserve Advisory Board Chairman, Michael Go,
said the regulation of Bitcoin was a welcome development for the industry.
“The fact that regulators and industry watchdogs are taking Bitcoin seriously is an excellent thing,”
he said. “With increased regulation and vigilance comes improvements in the quality and safety of
the industry as a whole, which is something we very much welcome. Bitcoin is an important form of
payment for millions of people now, with very significant companies like Dell accepting them as
payment, prices shown on Bloomberg terminals and Bitcoin ATMs opening every week. It’s really
positive to see the ongoing legitimisation of the Bitcoin environment and its operators.”
Unlike some local venues, Independent Reserve does not charge GST on transactions. CTO Adrian
Przelozny said the company strongly believed that Australians should not be penalised for the use

Independent Reserve Pty. Ltd.
ABN 46 164 257 069
Level 15, 9 Hunter Street, Sydney 2000
New South Wales, Australia
Ph: +61 2 8417 2843
Email: general@independentreserve.com
Website: www.independentreserve.com

of Bitcoin. “We provide an open marketplace for buyers and sellers to meet – we don’t buy or sell
Bitcoin in its own right,” he said. “Therefore we are not required to collect GST on the value of
Bitcoin traded. We do include GST as part of the brokerage fee charged to Australian customers,
but we absorb that cost.”
Independent Reserve will run and maintain its platform from its Sydney base, as Australia offers an
ideal environment for Independent Reserve to operate, according to Tepper. “Australia is politically
stable with a strong regulatory regime,” he said. “We have spoken consistently with ASIC and the
ATO as Independent Reserve has developed, as well as had the company audited by
PricewaterhouseCoopers. We’re very comfortable that we have the right settings here to ensure its
safety and success.”
Independent Reserve servers are securely located at two Tier 3 data centres in Sydney, allowing for
synchronous replication of all data across both locations in real-time to ensure zero data loss. The
market has a fully configured production environment ready to use to should the need arise.
Independent Reserve data is signed and encrypted multiple times using geographically dispersed
keys, spread across four data centers and the market utilises cold storage to hold the majority of
Bitcoins completely offline.
Independent Reserve charges a flat fee of 0.5% on all trades, however it is open to negotiation with
market makers and heavy volume traders. Independent Reserve is funded by a group of private
investors in Australia and Asia, who share a common vision to take Bitcoin to the next level.
Visit https://www.independentreserve.com/news to see Independent Reserve’s initial educational
videos on Bitcoin.
For interviews with Adam Tepper and Michael Go:
Kristin Westlake
media@independentreserve.com
+61 416 219 358

Independent Reserve Pty. Ltd.
ABN 46 164 257 069
Level 15, 9 Hunter Street, Sydney 2000
New South Wales, Australia
Ph: +61 2 8417 2843
Email: general@independentreserve.com
Website: www.independentreserve.com

Independent Reserve team
Adam Tepper, Chief Executive Officer
Before Independent Reserve, Adam founded a Sydney based IT consultancy, specialising in the
development of enterprise software for corporate clients. Through this venture, Adam established an
offshore development centre in Asia, at the same time growing his corporate client base back in
Sydney as well as attracting international clients. This led to a long term partnership with Nine
Entertainment in Sydney, becoming an integral part of their IT department. Through this partnership,
Adam’s firm provided the knowledge and resources to design, build and support critical business
systems as well as evangelising content delivery via Internet and mobile devices and established a
dedicated mobile technology team for Nine. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Swinburne
University in Melbourne.

Michael Go, Chairman, Advisory Board
Michael has over 25 years’ experience working in the global markets businesses of a number of
investment banks in Australia, Asia and Europe. His experience extends to commercial banking in
Australia, mobile payments in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as setting up an exchange to
accommodate the move of over-the-counter products to an electronic venue. Michael is well
placed to support the market in the current and future regulatory climate.
Michael also has extensive experience in the Chinese market, having worked with the regulators
and representatives of the central banking authority in China over a number of years. Having a
background and interest in electronic trading in appropriately regulated environments, there is a
natural alignment with the aims and direction of Independent Reserve.
Michael has a Global Executive MBA from the University of Sydney having completed his education
at Stanford, London School of Economics, and the IIM in Bangalore.

Adrian Przelozny, Chief Technology Officer
Adrian's career spans more than 15 years in Information Technology and Services, specialising in
the design and development of critical business systems. Prior to founding Independent Reserve,
Adrian was the principal consultant at a Sydney based IT consultancy he founded with Independent
Reserve CEO, Adam Tepper. Through this challenging role, Adrian led the delivery of many
enterprise solutions for financial institutions across Sydney, as well as a long standing role as
Solutions Architect at Nine Entertainment in Sydney. At Nine, Adrian oversaw the design and
development of their mission critical broadcast systems and mobile solutions, as well as supplying
and managing the software engineers through his own company. Adrian has Bachelor of Business
Systems and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from Monash University in Melbourne.

Lasanka Perera, Chief Business Development Officer
With a decade of experience as a trader, broker, market-maker, analyst and managing director in

Independent Reserve Pty. Ltd.
ABN 46 164 257 069
Level 15, 9 Hunter Street, Sydney 2000
New South Wales, Australia
Ph: +61 2 8417 2843
Email: general@independentreserve.com
Website: www.independentreserve.com

FX, derivatives and funds management, Lasanka is a co-founder of Independent Reserve. In 2011,
he launched the Australian subsidiary of the global FX firm Admiral Markets before launching his
own FX firm, Global FX Partners. Lasanka acquired and maintained the highly sought after AFSL for
market making in derivatives, for which he has been the AFSL Responsible Manager.
Lasanka has been a regular commentator in financial media including the Australian Financial
Review, Morningstar, ABC Newsradio, Sky TV and remains a weekly guest on the CNBC. Lasanka
is also a guest lecturer at the University of Sydney, and he enjoys staying fit by playing squash.

Independent Reserve Pty. Ltd.
ABN 46 164 257 069
Level 15, 9 Hunter Street, Sydney 2000
New South Wales, Australia
Ph: +61 2 8417 2843
Email: general@independentreserve.com
Website: www.independentreserve.com