Swyftx passes 1 million customer mark with purchase of New Zealand’s Easy Crypto

Brisbane cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx has become the dominant player in the Oceanic region with the purchase of a New Zealand business.

Swyftx chief executive Jason Titman.

Cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx has flown over the ditch and bought New Zealand’s Easy Crypto in a deal that creates a new Oceanic heavyweight with more than a million customers.

Over the last couple of years the Brisbane-based company, founded in 2018 by school mates Alex Harper and Angus Goldman, has suffered the ups and downs of the crypto market and at its lowest in 2022 laid off half of its workforce as revenue plunged.

But there are better times ahead with the company’s purchase of Easy Crypto – the largest crypto exchange in New Zealand, with over 350,000 users and more than NZD $3.5bn ($3.2bn) in sales since its launch in 2018.

Swyftx’s acquisition of Easy Crypto consolidates its position as one of the Australian/New Zealand region’s largest exchanges, with a combined 1.1 million sign-ups.

Swyftx chief executive Jason Titman.

Swyftx chief executive Jason Titmansays the deal will accelerate the exchange’s ability to scale into new products and countries.

“Easy Crypto is a high quality, trusted and innovative business in a market that will rapidly grow over the next few years,” he says.

“We’ve wanted to expand our presence in New Zealand for some time. Australasia needs a large, homegrown exchange to compete with international offerings and this deal creates exactly that.”   

The Brisbane headquartered business will have a combined workforce of just under 200 employees.

Swyftx and Easy Crypto will continue to operate as separate platforms until their service offerings can be offered to all customers.    

EV partners

Real estate investment trust Sentinel Property Group is driving its desire to improve the environment by partnering with a Brisbane manufacturing business that is delivering America’s most popular electric utility vehicle to the Australian and Asia-Pacific markets.

Sentinel boss Warren Ebert has joined forces with the BossCap Group chief executive Eddie Kocwa, whose company AUSEV is supplying Ford F-150 Lightning utes which have been remanufactured from left to right-hand drive.

Their customers already include the United Nations, RIO Tinto, RACQ and Brisbane Airport Corporation.

AUSEV is supplying Ford F-150 Lightning utes which have been remanufactured from left to right-hand drive from its Brendale factory.

City Beat readers will be aware that Ebert has championed green initiatives at Sentinel including solar roof panel installations at the Group’s shopping centres at Caneland Central in Mackay and DFO Cairns, as well as the River Quays office building in Townsville.

That’s why he’s happy to get on board with AUSEV.

“Sentinel is passionate about our environmental, social and governance responsibilities and has been nominated by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Actions Platforms for its efforts,” he says.

“What Eddie and AUSEV are doing is not only helping companies reduce their emissions by supplying the first fully electric 4 x 4 vehicles in Australia, but it is creating jobs and building an industry that will greatly benefit the Australian economy.

“I was very keen to invest in this business which has tremendous potential.”

The AUSEV headquarters and factory is at Brendale in Brisbane’s north. The fully Australian-owned company spent $14m tooling up their production line to not only remanufacture the utes but also carry out the unfitting required for mining and commercial fleets across the country.

Originally published as Swyftx passes 1 million customer mark with purchase of New Zealand’s Easy Crypto