Swyftx chief executive Jason Titman said the deal would help accelerate the growth of both firms Photo: Supplied/Swyftx
- Easy Crypto to merge with Australia's Swyftx for an undisclosed sum
- The merger will create the second-biggest cryptocurrency trading platform in Australasia by volume
- Easy Crypto brand to be eventually retired
New Zealand's largest cryptocurrency exchange is has fallen into Australian hands in a major shakeup of the local crypto market.
Easy Crypto, with more than 350,000 users globally, has been acquired by Brisbane-based crypto exchange Swyftx for an undisclosed sum.
The parties said the merger would create the second-largest platform in Australasia by trading volume, combining with Swfytx's 800,000 customers.
Easy Crypto was founded by siblings Alan and Janine Grainger in 2018 and claimed to have more than $3.5 billion worth of transactions since starting operations.
Co-founder and chief executive Janine Grainger said the move was "the right one" amid strong interest in digital currencies globally, with record prices late last year.
She said the Easy Crypto brand would eventually be retired with the Swfytx name to continue.
She said the board made a strategic decision in late 2023 to look at factors influencing the crypto market, such as rising costs and competition.
"But also the positioning of the market for a recovery looked like a good opportunity for us to look at a merger and there is a trend towards increasing mergers and acquisitions in the crypto industry which we thought we could leverage on," Grainger said.
The changing regulatory environment, particularly in Australia, was another factor at play.
"We're just seeing that there are a lot of costs coming in the crypto industry as regulation is increasing and also security and complexity [given] the nature of our industry as well," Grainger said.
Crypto assets are not regulated in New Zealand, but issuers have some oversight by the Financial Markets Authority.
Swyftx chief executive Jason Titman said the deal would help accelerate the growth of both firms over the next few years.
"We have wanted to expand our presence in New Zealand for some time. Australasia needs a large, world-class homegrown exchange to compete with international offerings and this deal creates exactly that," he said.
Titman said further regulation of the sector in Australia would benefit New Zealand customers, with Swyftx seeing a 1000 percent increase in trading since the US election.
He said regulation would likely support further growth in the sector, with Australia looking to introduce greater protections for consumers.
