Independent Reserve offers Bitcoin exchange

The digital currency firm Independent Reserve announced Monday the launch of its new Bitcoin exchange. This Sydney, Australia-based company said in a press release sent to CoinReport that its exchange provides users around the world a safe place to trade Bitcoin, and adds a valuable source of liquidity to the expanding Bitcoin market.

Independent Reserve CEO Adam Tepper said in the news release:

Independent Reserve CEO Adam Tepper

“The use and ownership of Bitcoins is growing steadily, and those using this virtual currency want a safe, secure place to buy, sell and store it. Our team has extensive experience in finance and IT, and we’ve used that expertise to build an exchange that brings the rigor of a financial services framework to the Bitcoin industry.”

The press release states that Independent Reserve’s proprietary technology entails many levels of safeguards to ensure users are well protected, including an enterprise-grade authentication subsystem and a hot wallet solution that allows for the physical separation of the Bitcoin storage and the Bitcoin network.

“We have the last mover advantage, and have spent thousands of hours on R&D [research and development] and learning from other venues to make sure our platform is completely robust with the strongest security mechanisms possible,” Tepper said.

Independent Reserve said in the news release that its servers are securely located at two Tier III data centers in Sydney, allowing for synchronous replication of all data across the two locations in real-time to ensure no data is lost.

“The market has a fully configured production environment ready to use, 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 utilizes cold storage to hold the majority of Bitcoins completely offline,” said the company in the press release.

Funded by a group of private investors in Australia and Asia, Independent Reserve charges a flat fee of 0.5 percent on all trades, but it is open to negotiation with market makers and heavy volume traders.

The press release notes the accelerated use of Bitcoin in the US in the last year, along with regulators focusing their attention on the digital currency.

Independent Reserve Chairman Michael Go

Michael Go, Chairman of Independent Reserve, said in the news release:

“The fact that regulators and industry watchdogs are taking Bitcoin seriously is an excellent sign. 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.”

Go added:

“Bitcoin is currently used by millions of people and increasingly moving toward the mainstream – major companies like PayPal and Dell have embraced it, prices are shown on Bloomberg terminals and new Bitcoin ATMs are opening every week. It’s really positive to see the ongoing legitimization of the Bitcoin environment and its operators.”

Independent Reserve said it will run and maintain its platform from its Sydney base, as Australia offers an ideal environment for the firm to operate.

“Australia is an AAA-rated country and is politically stable with a strong regulatory regime,” said Tepper. “We’re very comfortable that we have the right settings here to ensure its safety and success.”

Independent Reserve also revealed in the press release findings from its Bitcoin Use Survey conducted this month. According to the survey of 442 respondents worldwide between the ages of 18 to 74, only 8 percent had used Bitcoin. Slightly more than two-thirds of respondents feel they understand the digital currency, and more than three-quarters said they definitely or possibly plan to find out more about Bitcoin in the near future.

Image credits:

Logo via press release on PrWeb

Adam Tepper and Michael Go’s photos via Independent Reserve’s website