Buy Ethereum in New Zealand (ETH)

You can buy Ethereum with New Zealand dollars (NZD) on Independent Reserve. Deposit NZD into your Independent Reserve using local bank transfer.

Enjoy free deposits on amounts over NZ$5,000.

You can buy Ethereum in New Zealand on Independent Reserve. It only takes five minutes to create your account.

After you buy Ethereum from Independent Reserve you can simply leave it on the exchange to be stored safely and securely. Or, if you prefer to store ETH yourself you can transfer it to your preferred wallet.

Yes. After you buy Ethereum on Independent Reserve in New Zealand, we keep it safe for you. At Independent Reserve we take security seriously and have top level measures in place to protect our customers' cryptocurrency. These include two-factor authentication, ISO 27001 certification, and top-tier underground vaults. Learn more about our security measures.

There are three layers of operation on the Ethereum blockchain. The first is the hardware layer, which runs across a distributed world-wide computer network. These computers are called nodes. Nodes do the computational work necessary for processing transactions on the blockchain and keeping the ledger up-to-date. They make sure all copies of information stored across Ethereum’s shared database are synchronised.

The Ethereum blockchain has three levels of operation: The hardware layer, the software layer, and the application layer. The hardware layer of Ethereum runs autonomously over a global distributed network of computers, called “nodes”. Nodes perform the computational work required for processing transactions and ensure the blockchain’s ledger is updated. They are responsible for keeping a synchronised record of information stored on Ethereum’s shared database.

The software layer is controlled by smart contracts written in Ethereum’s own programming language, Solidity. Solidity is Turing complete which means it can run any computation that can be theoretically done by a computer. The combined hardware and software layers of Ethereum creates a decentralised supercomputer known as the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Using the EVM developers can write and deploy smart contracts without having to create their own blockchain, and launch their own decentralised applications (dApps) on top of Ethereum.

DApps are hosted on the Ethereum application layer. They exist on the blockchain and run over a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, meaning they do not need a third-party to work. Ethereum provides a decentralised system that allows for a more trusted and shared infrastructure. It free from the control of any centralised authority and is highly resistant to censorship or downtime.

To learn more, read our blog post on how Ethereum works.

Smart contracts automate the execution of an agreement without the need for a third-party intermediary. These digital contracts are simply small programs, stored on the blockchain, that carry out a set of actions when fixed conditions are met. They contain self-executing code that enforces the terms written in the contract.

Smart contracts help us do our business in a more efficient way. They help us save time and money by cutting out the middleman. Smart contracts are a powerful tool that enable us to process information in a “smarter” way and remove the need for a third-party to verify the accuracy of data.

Information stored on the public ledger is immutable, which means it cannot be changed. All transactions recorded on the blockchain are open and are accessible by anyone. This transparency of data provides a more honest system that is free from corruption and instills faith in a fairer way of doing things. For example, in an election smart contracts could be used to manage voting and remove any possibility of fraud by ensuring that results are counted and reported accurately.

DApps are decentralised blockchain-based “apps” that run on top of a peer-to-peer (P2P) network (a group of computers called “nodes”). Unlike traditional apps, DApps do not rely on a centralised system and can operate without human intervention. Ethereum offers a secure blockchain for storing data and supports smart contracts which allow DApps to function autonomously. This makes Ethereum a popular choice for businesses and developers welcoming innovation and blockchain technology.

Ethereum boasts the largest market of decentralised applications that exist today. The platform has launched thousands of dApps across many sectors from gaming, decentralised finance (DeFi), currency exchanges, health, identity, real estate, and more. OpenSea (NFT marketplace) and Uniswap (decentralised exchange (DEX)) are two popular examples of Ethereum-based dApps.

Ether is the native currency of the Ethereum network. "Ethereum" and "Ether" are often used to mean the same thing when referring to the cryptocurrency, which has the ticker symbol ETH. Technically, Ether (ETH) is a digital asset and is used as “digital money”; Ethereum is a decentralised blockchain network powered by the coin, Ether.

ETH is Ethereum’s lifeblood. It is the fuel that powers the entire ecosystem, like “digital petrol”. It is used as a transactional token to pay for operations on the Ethereum network. Every time a user interacts with a smart contract or sends a payment over the network, they have to pay a "gas" fee.

Gas is the critical fuels that the Ethereum network runs on. A gas fee is a transaction fee paid to miners (or “validators”). When a user sends a payment or executes a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain, they are required to pay gas. Gas payments are used to compensate miners for the energy it takes to verify and process a transaction. The reason gas fees exist is to incentivise miners to keep Ethereum running and help maintain security of the network.

Gas is a unit that determines the amount of computational effort required to execute particular operations on the network. Gas fees are denoted in Gwei, which is a smaller amount of Ether (ETH); like cents to the dollar. The amount of gas paid is set by the user and a "gas limit" refers to the maximum amount a user is willing to spend on a transaction. The more work a transaction takes to process, the more gas will need to be paid. Miners prioritise transaction requests depending on the set gas price, ie the higher the gas fee, the faster a transaction will be processed.

"Serenity”, also referred to as Ethereum 2.0, is a protocol upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain. The upgrade is significant and will improve Ethereum’s scalability, security and sustainability. New features will aim to fix bottlenecks currently causing congestion issues and boost the network’s functionality. “Sharding” will increase scalability, lower latency and handle a larger transaction volume. The “Beacon Chain” will implement ETH staking and reward validators for writing new blocks and maintaining network security. The transaction validation process performed by nodes is called ‘forging’. Finally, “The Merge” will see the Beacon Chain join together with Ethereum’s current Mainet. This is when the network will transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. PoS systems require less energy to run so they are considered more economical.

Read more about Ethereum 2.0.

Learn more about Ethereum on our blog. Other resources include the official Ethereum website and the Ethereum whitepaper.