Independent Reserve has won a top prize at this year’s inaugural Australian Blockchain Industry Awards, taking out Digital Currency Exchange of the Year.

Adrian Przelozny, CEO and founder of Independent Reserve, said it was an honour to be recognised among a field of strong and distinguished entrants.

“It’s a real privilege to stand alongside some of the incredible innovators in this year’s Australian Blockchain Industry Awards. Winning Digital Currency Exchange of the Year is testament to the hard work and consistent effort our team has put in to making Independent Reserve the top tier exchange that it is today. I’m extremely proud of what we’ve achieved so far, and I look forward to progressing this further.”

The win follows a succession of strategic partnerships and exciting business growth for the leading cryptocurrency exchange in recent times.

“With cryptocurrency markets growing at a rapid rate across the world, it’s essential that we’re continually evolving our business and trading features on the platform to keep up with the pace of change,” said Mr Przelozny.

We also partnered with KPMG in a world first partnership between a top four accounting firm and a cryptocurrency exchange to create a crypto tax calculator. The digital tool – developed by KPMG – plugs directly into our user’s Independent Reserve account, allowing traders to estimate tax obligations on their portfolio all with just the click of a button.

“On top of this, in November last year we announced the launch of IR ventures; a blockchain innovation hub and coworking space in Sydney. It has so far been met with great success,” concluded Mr Przelozny.

Founded in 2013, Independent Reserve has built a proprietary, institutional grade trading platform to allow Australians to buy, sell and invest in Bitcoin (XBT), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP) and other digital currencies.

It currently has over 100,000 customers across Australia and New Zealand, and services thousands of self-managed super funds (SMSFs).

The cryptocurrency exchange has also been working closely with various Australian regulatory bodies including AUSTRAC to formulate AML/CTF regulatory frameworks for the industry.

Australian finance industry heavyweights Mike Tilley (ex -CEO of Challenger Financial and Chairman of Latitude Financial), Martin Rogers (KTM Ventures) and Steve James (Seer Asset Management) are investors and board members of Independent Reserve.