When we start learning about Bitcoin, most of us consume lots of content and hear references to USD prices and mentions of international exchanges. There isn't much New Zealand news on the worldwide Bitcoin scene.
When you’re buying bitcoin from New Zealand, international options are not always available and there are often extra steps and fees for Kiwis. With most the information online focusing on buying bitcoin from international platforms it can be hard to find NZ-specific information.
The purpose of this article is to help NZ based Bitcoiners understand the options available and make an informed choice about where to buy bitcoin.
Bitcoin Exchanges in New Zealand
Bitcoin exchanges are platforms where you create an account, deposit money and buy bitcoin. They operate in similar ways to Stock Exchanges or brokers, except they’re dealing in bitcoin, not shares. You have an account balance on the exchange which shows how much bitcoin or fiat currency you have with them.
There is usually a screen showing the market price, your portfolio and sometimes one of those complicated Trading Analysis screens. The concept is simple: create an account; deposit your money (NZD, USD etc); place your order and receive bitcoin.
Exchanges can also offer other trading services such as derivatives, swaps and limit orders. These are trading shops and they make their money by keeping you on the platform trading as much as possible, so they like to keep you entertained with all the latest bells and whistles.
The major bitcoin exchanges are all overseas based but that doesn’t stop Kiwis from creating accounts and buying Bitcoin on global platforms like Coinbase or Swan. You can even trade in NZD on some, others will require you to exchange into USD before making your purchase.
There are also platforms to buy bitcoin which are more like brokers than full exchanges. The end result is the same, you still deposit cash and receive bitcoin, but a broker platform doesn't hold your bitcoin for you, it's sent immediately to your wallet. These services are more like a retail shop for bitcoin, not a trading platform. You send the money in and get the bitcoin out, you don't have a balance of bitcoin or cash sitting with them.
We'll explain more about these below, but an example of a bitcoin platform in New Zealand is Lightning Pay, a Kiwi company offering quick and easy services to buy bitcoin straight to your wallet.
What’s the difference between a Bitcoin Exchange and a Bitcoin Broker?
Just like an account with your stockbroker, on a Bitcoin Exchange you have an account where you can see your balance and make trades from within your account. If it’s an exchange with multiple coins you will be able to trade between NZD, bitcoin and other crypto currencies.
An example of a bitcoin exchange many people may have heard of is Coinbase, one of the oldest bitcoin exchanges in the market. An example of a bitcoin broker in New Zealand is Easy Crypto, they offer similar services to an exchange but you don't have an account balance and they don't hold your coins.
Bitcoin Brokers in New Zealand
A Bitcoin broker is a little different, you have an account but no balance in either NZD or bitcoin. You use the broker to execute your orders but they never hold the bitcoin, it gets sent automatically to your own bitcoin wallet. They are basically a retail shop where you buy bitcoin.
The process is: set up an account; place your order; send money & receiving address and receive bitcoin to your own wallet. At no time does the broker hold your Bitcoin, but they do hold your cash for a short time while the transaction is being processed. It is important to understand how long they hold your money and what's required before you receive your bitcoin.
There are a number of advantages to buying from brokers, they never hold your bitcoin so there is no custody risk and as you need to provide an address to receive your Bitcoin you learn how to set up a wallet and store your own bitcoin early. This is what we call “self custody” and a very important distinction in the Bitcoin world, but more about that later.
An example of an online Bitcoin broker in New Zealand is Lightning Pay.
Are there any other ways to buy Bitcoin in New Zealand?
Yes. As well as buying bitcoin on exchanges or from brokers, you can also buy Peer to Peer. This is when you buy bitcoin directly from another person without going through a middleman or service.
There are online platforms which facilitate peer to peer bitcoin purchases, such as HodlHodl, Robosats, Bisq and Vexl. You can also buy bitcoin the old fashioned way by finding someone who will sell it to you face to face. Yes, this still happens and Bitcoin meetups or community events are places where this can happen.
What is KYC vs non KYC Bitcoin?
You may have heard the term “KYC” in reference to Bitcoin, this refers to “Know Your Customer” rules which are part of global Anti Money Laundering rules. Anywhere which requires you to provide photo ID such as a passport or driver’s licence, as well as all your personal details, means you’re buying “KYC bitcoin”.
Most people get started with KYC bitcoin, but it's important to understand what this means - when you buy bitcoin in New Zealand via any exchange or broker which you have provided ID to, then this company will keep a record of all your transactions and at any time in the future if the authorities require them to pass those details over they will. Not something you may be thinking about early in your Bitcoin journey, but something you should be aware of.
Important - Take your Bitcoin off exchanges immediately!
Bitcoin has a very unique property, which makes it like no technology the human race has ever seen before. Bitcoin is a digital bearer asset, which means you can hold your own wealth in digital form without relying on any third party. You don’t have to entrust your savings to anyone else.
When you leave bitcoin on an exchange it is not your bitcoin, it’s just an IOU from the exchange saying they “promise” to give you your Bitcoin.
Every few years something happens at one of the exchanges (either a hack or fraud) and people get hurt, most recently it was the fraud and collapses of FTX, Celsius and Blockfi in 2022 that taught many people this lesson the hard way. People who held their own bitcoin through these events were not affected at all, but people who "trusted" these platforms to hold their bitcoin were. History is full of examples of "trusted" custodians of wealth not protecting the or losing their customers money, Bitcoin fixes this.
The only way to truly own bitcoin is to set up a wallet and hold your own private keys, this is all part of the learning journey you begin with Bitcoin. Where you choose to buy your first sats plays a part in this, if you only buy bitcoin from a platform which allows you to receive and hold bitcoin immediately at the time of purchase you're off to a good start and holding your own keys.
Not your keys, not your coins.
If you still have “your” bitcoin on an exchange, stop what you’re doing right now, go and learn how to set up a wallet and self custody your own bitcoin. It’s important.
Who offers the best rate for buying Bitcoin in New Zealand in 2024?
Last year we did our first test of the Bitcoin exchanges available for New Zealanders and learnt that Australian and US based exchanges are not competitive for a small regular buys due to fees and charges. So this year we've limited our test to the platforms we can make direct NZD bank deposits and don't have excessive fees that would take a significant portion of our $100 starting amount.
That left us with Lightning Pay and Easy Crypto, a grand final for the best place to buy Bitcoin in New Zealand title.
For the purpose of this test, we initiated purchases with Lightning Pay and Easy Crypto at the same time on the same day, an order to buy NZD$100. As Lightning Pay offer two options to withdraw bitcoin (via Lightning and On Chain) we made two purchases with Lightning Pay. Easy Crypto do not offer Lightning withdrawals yet.
Here are the results of our test, how much bitcoin do you get for NZD$100:
|
Platform |
NZD amount |
Deposit method |
Bitcoin received (sats) |
Total fees |
Time to receive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lightning Pay (via Lightning) |
$100 |
Akahu |
60,613 |
Platform $1.00 |
2 mins |
|
Lightning Pay (on chain) |
$100* |
Akahu |
57,951 |
Platform $1.00 |
7 mins |
|
Easy Crypto (on chain) |
$100 |
Direct to account |
56,649 |
Platform $1.16 |
90 mins** |
*Lightning Pay have a minimum on chain purchase of $102, so in the table above the number of sats received per $100 has been adjusted to provide a like comparison for all three purchases. For our original purchase of $102 we received 59,110 sats, at the same number of sats/dollar amount $100 bought us 57,951 sats.
** For the Easy Crypto buy we selected the lowest fee option for deposits, an online deposit to their bank account. Easy Crytpo will not initiate the bitcoin transaction until the funds have arrived from the sender bank, which makes the time to receive longer.
Find the best place to buy Bitcoin in New Zealand on X
For a live check of the sats per NZD rate every hour, follow the How any sats for NZD$100 X bot here.
Every hour it publishes a tweet showing how many sats you get for NZD$100, comparing the leading NZ exchanges.
Buying Bitcoin in New Zealand - A comparison of exchanges and brokers in 2024
The purpose of our test is to find the best place to buy Bitcoin for people who want to make regular purchases and hold the Bitcoin in their own wallet as savings. This is the ultimate use case of Bitcoin, as a savings technology.
How did our experiment work?
We started with NZD$100 in a bank account in New Zealand and took into account all fees incurred, in order to make a like for like comparison. Our goal was to see how much Bitcoin (in sats) we received to our wallet from the original NZD$100 for purchases made at the same time.
The buys were all made at the same time, within minutes of each other. This was a human experiment, not using bots. What we tried to recreate was an everyday scenario of a regular person in New Zealand placing an order to buy Bitcoin.
The results were interesting and showed a clear winner. Buying bitcoin on Lightning Pay and withdrawing directly to a Lightning wallet gave you the most sats for NZD by a decent amount (6% more sats than with Easy Crypto).
So with that out of the way, read on to find out more about where to buy bitcoin in New Zealand.
What are the best Bitcoin exchanges or brokers in New Zealand?
Lightning Pay
A new entrant into the market in 2024, Lightning Pay is a New Zealand based company and run by Kiwi Bitcoiners who are active in the community. There's a lot to like about Lightning Pay, they usually have the best rates on the market, focus 100% on Bitcoin and offer immediate settlement to your own wallet.
In this article we'll focus on the buying bitcoin service on Lightning Pay, but it's worth noting that they also offer other payment solutions for both individuals and merchants.
To buy bitcoin on Lightning Pay you need to set up an account both on Lightning Pay and their open banking partner Akahu. Through the partnership with Akahu, your bitcoin purchases can be paid for instantly from your NZD bank account, removing the extra steps of making a deposit and waiting for it to clear. There are other deposit options available but using Akahu gives you the quickest and cheapest method to deposit funds for buying bitcoin.
Once your account is active, buying bitcoin is very quick and easy on their web app, you choose the amount of NZD you want to spend, choose your payment method, choose your withdrawal option of Lightning or Onchain, enter your receive address, confirm and you're done. The NZD payment is sent directly to Lightning Pay from your connected NZD account and the bitcoin is sent to your address, it literally takes two minutes.
Lightning Pay have bought something new to the Bitcoin marketplace in New Zealand and are definitely worth checking out. This is the first time we've had a Bitcoin only service run by Kiwis who are active in the community, they are regulars at meetups and events, something no other NZ based exchanges do.
Pros of buying Bitcoin from Lightning Pay
- Best rates for buying bitcoin in NZ
- Connect your NZD bank account directly for instant deposits
- Instant receipt of bitcoin at time of purchase
- Options to receive on Lightning or Onchain
- Smash buy and Auto buy features available
- 100% self custody, they never hold your Bitcoin.
- NZ based company and support
Cons of buying Bitcoin from Lightning Pay
- Sign up process may involve a few more steps than other exchanges
- Some technical knowledge is required to set up your own wallets before you start
Fees for buying Bitcoin on Lightning Pay
Lightning Pay charge a flat 1% fee for all Bitcoin purchases. Their NZD to BTC exchange rate is usually the best in the market, so that is worth considering too.
On top of the Lightning Pay fee of 1% you'll also pay a fee to your payment provider for your deposit, this varies depending on which payment provider you use. Here are the fees we encountered on our test buy of $100:
- Akahu (which is the cheapest and fastest) cost $0.20 per deposit.
- POLI account to account payments are also fast and cost $0.97 per deposit.
- Stripe can also be used for Credit Card payment, this costs $0.97 per deposit.
If you're using POLI or Stripe, the fees increase with a larger amount, but the fees with Akahu stay a flat $0.20 per deposit. A $500 purchase will cost you $3 to deposit with POLI and $13.40 with Stripe, so using Akahu as your payment option is definitely the cheapest.
Withdrawing to your wallet won't cost anything if you use the Lightning option, in this method the sender (Lightning Pay) covers those fees. Withdrawing to an on chain address will have a swap fee and a network fee (mining fee) which will be variable depending on congestion on the Bitcoin network.
The innovation Lightning Pay have bought to the NZ market is to deposit NZD instantly and withdraw Bitcoin to a Lightning wallet, the fastest and cheapest way to receive bitcoin. This service is not even available on many large international exchanges yet, so take advantage of this innovation and save on fees by using Lightning.
Find out more about Lightning Pay here.
The Lightning Pay order confirmation and on chain receipt to Phoenix wallet
Easy Crypto
Easy Crypto was one of the earliest Bitcoin brokers in New Zealand and for many years probably the first place many Kiwis bought bitcoin. Signing up is fairly straightforward, you need to provide your name, address and photo ID. They are based in Wellington and many people in our community have met them directly.
Buying bitcoin on Easy Crypto is simple, you just enter the amount of NZD you want to buy (or you can enter the amount in BTC), then click “order” and the order is saved for you and will be actioned as soon as your funds hit their account.
Getting the money from a New Zealand bank account to Easy Crypto is again, um, easy. You have four options:
-
Account2Account. Fast and direct from your bank account, most major NZ banks support this. Costs $0.50.
-
POLI. Similar to Account2Account, in fact so similar we can’t figure out the difference except that it’s a different platform. Costs 1%, max fee $3.00.
-
Debit / Credit Card. Visa or Mastercard only, supports Apple & Google Pay. Costs $0.34 plus 2.67%.
-
Deposit money using a regular account transfer. The order won’t be actioned until your money hits their account so if you make your order on an evening or weekend, the buy may not take place until the next business day. Free and actually a good option if you’re on a low time preference and Dollar Cost Averaging.
Many members of the NZ Bitcoin community have used Easy Crypto over the years and we’ve had no reports of orders not being fulfilled and overall positive reports from their Customer Service.
But some Bitcoin purists don’t like them because it’s a “Shitcoin Casino”, meaning they leverage off the reputation and standing of Bitcoin to push B, C & D grade shitcoins to unsuspecting newbies. When you visit their website it's covered with token names, trading suggestions and articles about the next hot crypto.
Platforms like Easy Crypto make their money from trading fees, so the more you trade the better they do. They’re not incentivized to encourage you to buy and HODL for the long term, which is what most Bitcoiners believe in. So make an informed decision about who you support, and what the tradeoffs are.
Pros of buying Bitcoin from Easy Crypto
- They never hold your Bitcoin, it goes straight to an address you provide.
- Based in New Zealand, so easier to get hold of if you need to.
- Good customer service and local presence.
- Auto-Buy function lets you automate a regular buy.
Cons of buying Bitcoin from Easy Crypto
- Onchain wallet purchases only, Lightning withdrawals are not available so fees will be higher at times which doesn't help small regular purchases.
- Not supported by some popular wallets such as Wallet of Satoshi or Phoenix. Easy Crypto do not yet support a new address type (taproot addresses) so you can not receive bitcoin to many wallets that use this.
- It’s hard to see exactly what the fees are on their website before you buy. If rates are important to you make sure you compare the same NZD purchase to other platforms.
- Easy Crypto is a trading shop which supports many other crypto currencies which means that if you're on their email list they'll encourage you to buy "crypto" when the best return for people looking to protect future purchasing power will be regular buys and holding Bitcoin for the long haul.
Fees for buying Bitcoin on Easy Crypto
As Easy Crypto is not an cxchange, but in their own words “a retail shop”, their fees are built into their rates. That means you don’t see a fixed % fee in front of you for each transaction, but a Bitcoin rate which you secure when your funds reach their account. An indicative rate for fees on Easy Crypto is from 0.70% to 0.90%, see the results of our test to compare for yourself.
On our $100 test buy, a dialog box informed us that our fee is 0.76% plus a 0.4% forex fee, for a total of 1.16%.
The Easy Crypto order confirmation and on chain receipt to Muun wallet
Independent Reserve
Another Australian Exchange who are so clever, they put a /nz at the end of their domain, do a find and replace of the word “Australia” with “New Zealand” on their website, and stone the crows cobber, we’re “New Zealand’s trusted cryptocurrency exchange”. Brilliant!
This is an exchange geared towards traders of Bitcoin and other Crypto currencies, with many tools for executing trades of different kinds, so if that’s your game you may be interested.
Independent Reserve is a “custodial exchange”, which means once you buy bitcoin there it stays there unless you send it to your own wallet. There are a couple of dynamics to understand here, as a Trading Shop they make fees when you trade, not when you store your bitcoin in cold storage. Their withdrawal fees are quite punitive, NZD20 for fiat withdrawals or 0.0002 BTC for a Bitcoin withdrawal, over NZD$30 at the time of writing.
This fee structure encourages you to accumulate your BTC on the exchange and only withdraw when you have a significant amount to warrant the fee, which increases your custody risk. This is not supportive of Bitcoiners who want to buy small amounts regularly and withdraw to their own wallet.
Independent Reserve also charges a NZD$15 deposit fee for any deposit under NZD$5000, so again, not supportive of small regular deposits.
A quick look at the fee table will tell you this is more a Trader’s exchange, not so much geared towards individuals making smaller regular buys for long term saving. Do your own research and find the right place to buy which matches your needs.
Pros of buying Bitcoin on Independent Reserve
- Unless you’re a very high volume trader, it’s hard to find a reason to recommend IR to the regular Kiwi Bitcoiner.
Cons of buying Bitcoin on Independent Reserve
- Fixed deposit and withdrawal fees which is not great for small regular buys
- Supports multiple coins, not just Bitcoin
- AU based with NZ stickers on the website only
Fees for buying Bitcoin on Independent Reserve
Deposit Fees
No fee for Bitcoin deposits
No fee for NZD deposits over $5000
NZD$15 fee for deposits under $5000
Trading Fees
Volume based, starting at 0.5% for monthly volume under AUD$50,000
Reduces to 0.02% for monthly volumes of $200,000,000 (Thank goodness, it really grates me when I have to pay more for those $200M trades :))
Withdrawal Fees
NZD$20 for NZD withdrawals
20,000 sats for BTC on chain withdrawals
Source: https://www.independentreserve.com/nz/fees
Swyftx
Another one of the “Kiwi Aussie” exchanges which proves the point that it’s been really hard to launch a Bitcoin exchange in New Zealand.
Swyftx offer NZD deposits for Kiwis which was one compelling reason to use them. But in a test we did last year, the NZD deposit option was “temporarily unavailable”, so we were forced to make the transfer using a Credit Card and incur fees.
Swyftx claim to back your coins 1:1 and not lend them out for yield, great if true but in the world of “don’t trust, verify”, self custody is always your best bet.
Fees for buying Bitcoin on Swyftx
Deposit Fees
Their website states zero deposit fees from their platform, but there is a fee of up to 3.99% from their banking partner. When we ran our experiment bank transfers weren’t available so we were forced to deposit by credit card and pay a fee of $3.75.
Trading Fees
Starting fee of 0.6% on all buys.
Withdrawal Fees
20,000 sats for on chain BTC withdrawals (eg. to Cold wallets)
NZD withdrawals incur a $10 fee, plus any additional bank fees.
Source: https://swyftx.com/au/fees/
Pros of buying Bitcoin on Swyftx
- NZD deposits possible
- Fully back customer assets & don’t rehypothecate
- Low fees trading fees and low spread
- Easy to use app
Cons of buying Bitcoin on Swyftx
- Minimum $80 deposit via Credit Card
- Fixed fee when moving BTC to your own wallet
- Unfavourable NZD exchange rates
- NZD deposits incur fees and take 8 - 10 business days
Buying Bitcoin on International Exchanges
When we did our first test run of all the Bitcoin exchanges available for Kiwis we included international options like Swan, Coinbase and Binance.
The problem for Kiwis buying on these exchanges comes down to exchange rates, fees, deposits and signup friction. These exchanges won't offer direct NZD deposits from bank accounts or through neobanks like Revolut. On top of the fees you pay to the exchange you also have bank fees and FTX charges on top of that, so again, for smaller regular purchases it becomes inefficient quickly.
When we made a test buy on Swan Bitcoin last year it cost $9 for an international bank transfer and they didn't support credit card deposits, so it's just not feasible if you want to start making small regular purchases.
There are some great Bitcoin only exchanges out there, River and Strike are two that spring to mind, but until these companies offer full services in New Zealand they're not going to be competitive.
Another point to consider is support, if you have to contact support what time zones are they on and how responsive will they be to your query?
Conclusion - there is a new leader in the Bitcoin market in New Zealand
With Lightning Pay entering the market in 2024, the game has changed and now there's a new leader in buying Bitcoin in New Zealand. Lightning Pay is New Zealand based, work only in Bitcoin and offer you the most sats per NZD and the cheapest and fastest way to withdraw to your own wallet.
If you’re looking for the most Bitcoin for your NZD in a quick and easy way, take a look at Lightning Pay.
As you continue on your Bitcoin journey, you will probably change your buying habits over time. A typical Bitcoin journey over several years might start on KYC exchanges, then move to Peer to Peer purchases before earning Bitcoin for work you do or even mining your own Bitcoin.
Thanks for reading, we hope this helps you find the best place to buy bitcoin in New Zealand. If you found this article useful please share with your friends.
Article by HGW39
Further Reading & Resources
River (US based Bitcoin Exchange)
How many Sats for NZ$100 (a Twitter bot making comparisons every hour)