Looking to buy Bitcoin in New Zealand? Everyone’s Bitcoin journey starts in the same place, figuring out how to buy your first “sats”. This is a guide for Kiwis about where to buy Bitcoin in New Zealand, we’ll summarize your best options, compare prices, go over the pros & cons of each service and share some experiences from other Kiwi Bitcoiners.
What are my options for buying Bitcoin in New Zealand?
When we start learning about Bitcoin, most of us consume lots of content and hear references to prices in USD, major international exchanges like Coinbase & Binance, OTC desks, brokers and other Bitcoin services, almost all of which will be overseas based.
When you’re buying Bitcoin from New Zealand, there are often a few extra steps to take and it can be hard to find NZ-specific information about how to buy Bitcoin. The purpose of this article is to remedy that, and help Kiwis find the best way to buy Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Exchanges & Brokers in New Zealand
You’ve probably heard of Bitcoin exchanges before, these are platforms (usually companies, but not always) where you create an account, deposit some money and buy some Bitcoin. Just like Stock Exchanges, except they’re dealing in Bitcoin, not shares. You have an account balance on the exchange, which shows how much Bitcoin 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 often offer all kinds of exotic 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 exchanges are all overseas based, but that doesn’t stop Kiwis from creating accounts and buying Bitcoin on global platforms like Coinbase and Binance. You can even trade in NZD on some, others will require you to exchange into USD before making your purchase.
An example of a Bitcoin Exchange Kiwis can use is Bitaroo. (We know, no Kiwi in their right mind would come up with this name, it’s Aussie-based but is set up for Kiwis to use)
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 you can make trades yourself from within your account. If it’s an exchange with multiple coins (known in the trade as a Shitcoin Casino) you will be able to trade between dirty Fiat, Bitcoin and other Crypto currencies.
Bitcoin Brokers in New Zealand
A Bitcoin Broker is a little different, you have an account but no balance. You use the broker to execute your orders but they never hold the Bitcoin, it gets sent automatically to your own Bitcoin address. 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 while the transaction is being processed. You can often view or even export your order history from a broker.
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 send them an address to receive your Bitcoin you learn how to set up a wallet and store your own keys 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 Easy Crypto.
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.
The main options for doing this include options like HODL HODL, Robosats, Bisq, Peach or the old fashioned way of finding someone who will sell you Bitcoin face to face. Yes, this still happens.
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, and are a right royal pain in the arse forced upon us by the ruling class who really couldn’t give a shit about whether criminals are using banks to launder money or not, but it lets them see every aspect of citizens’ financial lives. All in the name of “keeping us safe”. ?
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”.
The more you go down the Bitcoin rabbit hole you’ll learn that there are tradeoffs in buying KYC Bitcoin. Here’s a really good article summarizing KYC vs non KYC Bitcoin on the Bitcoiner Guide website.
But just know that 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.
Take your Bitcoin off exchanges immediately!
Bitcoin has a very unique property, which makes it like no technology the human race has ever had 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. But the fraud and collapses of FTX, Celsius and Blockfi in 2022 taught many people this lesson the hard way.
The only way to truly have Bitcoin is to set up a wallet and hold your own Private Keys.
Not your keys, not your coins.
In case you weren’t paying attention, there’s a million good reasons why you shouldn’t leave your Bitcoin on exchanges. (that’s the number of people estimated to have lost coins when FTX collapsed) If you still have “your” Bitcoin on an exchange, stop what you’re doing right now, go 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?
For many of our avid fans and readers, it’s all about the price. So without further ado, here are the results of the great Kiwi Bitcoin buy-off 2023.
Members of our crack team sacrificed their weekly coffees to run an extremely sophisticated test. At approximately the same time, on approximately the same day (told you it was sophisticated!) we put in a buy order for Bitcoin for exactly the same amount of NZD at the following exchanges or brokers, and here’s what happened:
Buying Bitcoin in New Zealand - A comparison of exchanges and brokers in 2023
How did our experiment work?
We started with NZD$50 in a bank account in New Zealand and took into account all fees incurred, in order to make a like for like comparison. For example, an international transfer into Swan costs $9 and we took this into account in our result. Through fees everyone’s $50 ended up being a slightly different purchase amount, so we adjusted on a sats/dollar received basis to make a like for like comparison.
The buys were all timed to coincide with each other as much as possible. This was a human experiment, not using bots, so it’s not perfect. What we tried to recreate was an everyday scenario of a regular Kiwi man or woman who got up in the morning and placed an order to buy Bitcoin before going to work.
Interesting results and a clear winner. The Aussies take this one out, Bitaroo gave you the best sats for NZD by quite a margin.
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?
Easy Crypto
Easy Crypto is probably the most visible Bitcoin broker in New Zealand and the first place many Kiwis buy Bitcoin. Signing up with Easy Crypto 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 NZBitcoiners.org community have used Easy Crypto and we’ve had no reports of orders not being fulfilled and overall positive reports from their Customer Service.
But Bitcoin purists don’t like EC 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.
They 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.
For what it’s worth, Easy Crypto is a “Registered Financial Service Provider”, a mark of trust endorsed by none other than the Financial Markets Authority. So if they try to nick your money you can go and ask Daddy government to help you get it back.
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
- It’s hard to see exactly what the fees are, as you only see their NZD price for Bitcoin which doesn’t provide an exact breakdown of fees as part of the transaction.
- Easy Crypto supports many other crypto currencies, and for some Bitcoiners that is a deal breaker.
- Fully KYC. They have records of you and every purchase you make and are legally obliged to turn it over to authorities if requested.
Fees for buying Bitcoin on Easy Crypto
As EC is not an Exchange, 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.
Bitaroo
As the name might suggest Bitaroo is an Australian Bitcoin Exchange, what stands out immediately about this exchange is that it’s Bitcoin only. This means that the company aligns with the Bitcoin values and spends 100% of their time and energy on Bitcoin, not Shitcoin #150.
For many Bitcoiners, this is a big deal.
Another unique feature of Bitaroo we haven’t found in any other Bitcoin Exchange Kiwis can use is that you can withdraw your Bitcoin on the Lightning Network. If you’re brand new to Bitcoin and yet to encounter Lightning, here’s an intro piece on Lightning Network, but a quick summary is that Lightning is a second level network on top of the base Bitcoin layer which functions as a peer to peer payments network, lightning fast and super cheap. An exchange that allows you to withdraw using Lightning is living the Bitcoin ethos. Bonus points here.
Bitaroo is a KYC exchange, so you will have to provide all your details and ID, no way around this if you want to buy here.
They offer much more trading functionality than a simple broker like Easy Crypto, you can place Market Orders, Stop Orders and set up DCA (Dollar Cost Average) orders.
Pros of buying Bitcoin on Bitaroo
- Bitcoin only
- Lightning Network Withdrawals
- NZD priced Bitcoin
- NZ bank account to account deposits
Cons of buying Bitcoin on Bitaroo
- Annoying Australian name
- NZ website is very light on info and details
- Only fiat deposits, cannot deposit BTC to your account yet.
Fees for buying Bitcoin on Bitaroo
Deposit Fees
No fee for NZD deposits
Trading Fees
No fees on their Express Buy function.
Trading fees range from 0.15% - 0.19% for volumes under $10K per month.
Withdrawal Fees
NZD$7 for NZD withdrawals
10,000 - 30,000 sats for on chain BTC withdrawals
0.09% for Lightning withdrawals (Wallet of Satoshi)
0.19% for other Lightning wallet withdrawals
Source: https://www.bitaroo.nz/fees/
Several of our community members have reported recently that NZD deposits have not shown up in their Bitaroo accounts and they’ve had to contact support to sort it out. It seems like the issues were fixed and they may be no fault of Bitaroo’s, but it’s not a good look when your dosh doesn’t show up!
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 similar tools to Bitaroo 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 IR 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 0.0003 BTC for a Bitcoin withdrawal, about NZD11 at 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. For Bitcoiners who want to DCA and withdraw each time, this does not support that.
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 humble 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
30,000 sats for BTC on chain withdrawals
Source: https://www.independentreserve.com/nz/fees
Binance
Binance is one of the giant global exchanges, selling every kind of Crypto Currency under the sun, including Bitcoin. To many Bitcoiners, Binance represents everything you should avoid in “Crypto”, but because they’re big and global, you may well come across them early in your Bitcoin journey so we’ll include them in our guide.
Binance was founded in 2017, originally in China, but now seems to be some stateless entity floating somewhere just above the grasp of regulators. The founder of Binance is a fairly high profile guy known as “CZ” (that’s with an American zee, not a Kiwi zed), and they decided to open up to Kiwis in 2022.
Yep, they got the trusted “Financial Service Provider” badge, slapped a big “Kia Ora” on a webpage and Bob’s your uncle, we’re a trusted Kiwi Crypto exchange.
If you’re new to Bitcoin be warned, this is a slick trading shop that has every trick in the book to keep you on their platform trading. They have waived trading fees, given you all kinds of bonus shitcoin incentives to keep you and your precious Bitcoin on their platform, not locked safely in your cold storage.
Perhaps this is the moment to recall a great Andreas Antonopolous quote: “Exchanges are like public toilets, you do your business as quickly as possible then get the hell out”.
Fees for buying Bitcoin on Binance
Deposit Fees
No deposit fee for credit card (rate is what you see is what you get)
Trading Fees
Fees on Binance depend on your trading volume and whether you use their own token (shitcoin) BNB.
If you hold BNB token, 0.05%
If you don’t hold the token, 0.1%
Source: https://www.binance.com/en-NZ/fee/schedule
For a regular buy, ie, you deposit NZD and want to withdraw Bitcoin, their rate is all inclusive, so the best way to compare is to see the results of our test above. You may incur additional costs from your credit card, or even be blocked one day if your bank decides it doesn’t think you should be spending your own money with a Crypto exchange. (it’s happened overseas)
Binance also has a “P2P” platform, which enables you to trade directly with another person instead of on their platform, but you still have to provide full ID and verify your account, which kind of removes the reason many people like to trade P2P (peer to peer).
Pros of buying Bitcoin on Binance
- Recurring buy feature
- Slick apps and features
- Full range of Shitcoins for when you see the light and convert it all to Bitcoin
- Competitive rates
Cons of buying Bitcoin on Binance
- It’s a full Shitcoin Casino, they’ll try everything to keep you trading and custodying your Bitcoin with them.
- Credit card deposits the only option for NZD
- There’s got to be some dodgy shit going on here somewhere, one day it will all go poof and if your BTC is in there when it happens, it’s sayonara Satoshi!
Swan Bitcoin
Swan is a Bitcoin only exchange and company which has seen a real rise in the last year or so. They have a team of some of the most respected names in Bitcoin as advisors or staff, which gives them an edge over pretty much anyone else in terms of credibility amongst Bitcoiners.
Through the Swan App you can action one off or regular buys and they incentivize you to withdraw Bitcoin to your own wallet. Very few, if any, other Bitcoin exchanges do this, most incentivize you to keep your funds in their platform and dangle shiny toys in front of you to incentivize this.
Swan have invested heavily in education, the Swan Bitcoin Canon on their website is an excellent source of resources from some of the leading thought leaders in Bitcoin like Stephan Livera, Matt Odell, Lyn Alden & Tomer Strolight. They also have a daily Bitcoin podcast, Cafe Bitcoin, which covers news and offers regular opportunities to hear Greg Foss go off on his highly entertaining rants.
They also run Pacific Bitcoin, a yearly conference in Los Angeles, and from all the footage from the inaugural event looked like a lot of fun. New Zealand’s very own TipNZ was centre stage there too. Being in LA, it’s probably the easiest US Bitcoin conference for Kiwis to get to.
As a US based company, Swan is not registered as a Financial Services Provider in New Zealand. Depending on your perspective, this could be an advantage or a disadvantage. If anything happened to your funds, you would have no legal recourse from New Zealand to try and recover them (the sure fire way to protect against this is to withdraw right away). But if the New Zealand Government decided they wanted to see who had bought Bitcoin and possibly put some controls in place, dealing with a non NZ based exchange like Swan makes that a little harder. Do your own research and make your own decision.
Fees for buying Bitcoin on Swan Bitcoin
Deposit Fees
No direct deposit fees, but as the only way to get money into Swan from New Zealand is via International bank transfer which incurs a $9 fee if you do it the regular way via Swift. Setting up a US dollar account with a service like Wise or Revolut could be a solution here.
Swan do not support Credit Card deposits.
Trading Fees
Simple - all buys incur a 0.99% fee.
Withdrawal fees
None
Pros of buying Bitcoin on Swan
- They’re 100% Bitcoin
- Buy direct to your own wallet, no custody risk required
- US based, so not directly affected by NZ laws
- Private services available
Cons of buying Bitcoin on Swan
- Not always the best rate from NZD
- No Credit Card deposits
- Like most US based services, more friction to get funds in and support from NZ
Swyftx
Another one of the “Kiwi Aussie” exchanges which proves the point that it’s actually really hard to launch a Bitcoin exchange in New Zealand.
Until recently (and maybe it’s coming back?) Swyftx offered free bank deposits for Kiwis which was one compelling reason to use them. But in our recent test, the NZD deposit option was “temporarily unavailable”, so we were forced to make the transfer using a Credit Card and incur fees. But we stuck it through for you, Kiwi Bitcoiners, to provide you with all the up to date info.
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, but 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
0.6% on all buys.
Withdrawal Fees
20,000 sats for on chain BTC withdrawals (eg. to Cold wallets)
Source: https://swyftx.com/au/fees/
Pros of buying Bitcoin on Swyftx
- Good regulatory cover in AU
- Fully back customer assets & don’t rehypothecate
- Low fees trading fees and low spread
- Good service
- Easy to use app
Cons of buying Bitcoin on Swyftx
- NZ Bank deposits not available
- Minimum $80 deposit via Credit Card
- Fixed fee when moving BTC to your own wallet
- Unfavourable NZD exchange rates
Conclusion
On the occasion, we have to hand the Bitcoin Bledisloe Cup to the Aussies, Bitaroo got you the most sats per NZD by a long shot. So if you’re looking for the most Bitcoin for your NZD, have a gander at Bitaroo.
Keep in mind that 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.
Wherever you buy Bitcoin, bear this in mind. You, yes you my friend, are one of the lucky ones that can still “buy” Bitcoin in exchange for fiat currency. The day will come when this is not the case, so say a silent thanks to Satoshi Nakamoto.
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.
Further Reading & Resources
How many Sats for NZ$100 (a Twitter bot making comparisons every 6 hours)