Is Independent Reserve safe? Licences, account freezes and incidents
Is Independent Reserve safe?
Independent Reserve has 1 licence found in the register at eservices.mas.gov.sg, issued by the MAS. Its terms let it freeze, suspend or close an account. Its terms restrict unlawful or unlicensed gambling only. No primary-source incident is recorded, which is not proof of none.
Documents last checked Reviewed by CryptoGuardz Register Desk, editorial desk
Disclosure: CryptoGuardz has no commercial relationship with Independent Reserve and earns nothing if you open an account there. Every statement below is read from a document Independent Reserve publishes or from a public register, and each carries the date it was read. Corrections go to the corrections page.
Independent Reserve review: the documents
This is a review of the documents Independent Reserve publishes and of the registers that should list it, not a test of the platform: no account was funded and no withdrawal was run. The binding terms name Independent Reserve Pty Limited as the company you contract with, in Australia (Australian Private Company, main business location NSW 2060). The record quotes 7 clauses across 6 topics, read 2026-10-09, from 9 sources. Independent Reserve has 1 licence found in the register at eservices.mas.gov.sg, issued by the MAS. 1 further licence it claims was not confirmed in any register. Its proof-of-reserves page could not be loaded, so that field is no data. The terms carry a clause on what happens to customer assets if the company fails, quoted below. Its terms restrict unlawful or unlicensed gambling only. 9 points could not be verified and are listed below.
Is my crypto safe on Independent Reserve?
Independent Reserve is a custodial exchange: coins on the account are held by the exchange, not by a key you control. What protects them is what the binding terms say about holding customer assets and about the company failing. One clause on holding customer assets is quoted below.
Subject to clauses 8 and 21, we agree to: (a) hold your Cryptocurrency on trust through: (i) our own technical infrastructure; and/or (ii) our Custody Provider(s);independentreserve.com
Insolvency and bankruptcy language in the terms, verbatim:
We do not hold any fiat deposited by you on trust, other than in accordance with our Unallocated Deposits policy.independentreserve.com
Can Independent Reserve freeze my account?
Yes, by its terms. The 2 clauses are quoted as written, followed by the clause on suspending withdrawals. Grounds named in the text: its own discretion, with no reason required.
Additionally, we may, at our complete discretion, suspend, restrict, limit or terminate your Account for any reason, including without limitation, where:independentreserve.com
in our sole discretion terminate your access to the Platform, Services and Accountindependentreserve.com
all withdrawals of fiat currency and Cryptocurrency will remain restricted on your Accountindependentreserve.com
Sending funds to a casino is a named trigger in a clause that restricts unlawful gambling:
not use the service to engage in any criminal or restricted activities, including (but not limited) to: [...] illegal gambling;independentreserve.com
Has Independent Reserve been hacked or fined?
No hack, fine or regulator action was found for Independent Reserve from primary sources in this collection: no company disclosure, no court filing and no regulator notice. That is not proof that none happened. It is the absence of a search result, and a press report is not recorded here until a primary source confirms it.
Independent Reserve support and scams
The official domain in the record is independentreserve.com. Type it yourself rather than following a link from an ad, a search result or a message, and reach support only from inside the account you signed in to there.
Real support never asks for a seed phrase or for remote access to your device. An exchange account is opened with a login, not a recovery phrase, so a request for one is a request for a wallet you hold elsewhere. A request to install a screen-sharing or remote-desktop app hands the caller your signed-in session. Either one ends the conversation.
If money has already gone, the next message offering to get it back is the commonest second loss. The FBI, the FTC, the CFTC and the UK FCA have each published warnings about it, quoted on crypto scam recovery: what is real.
What we could not verify
The gaps in this record, as the record states them. A point listed here was looked for and not confirmed; it is neither a finding for Independent Reserve nor against it.
- The AUSTRAC registration DCE-100461150-001. The AUSTRAC register requires a login and the AUSTRAC guidance page is disallowed by robots.txt.
- The licence number PS20200517 in the MAS directory. The directory confirms the entity and licence type but did not display a number.
- Any New Zealand Financial Service Providers Register entry. Not searched.
- The identity of the Custody Provider. Not named in the terms or on the about page.
- The Unallocated Deposits policy referred to in clause 16.1.2. Not read.
- The Singapore terms that bind Independent Reserve SG Pte. Ltd. customers. Not read.
- Any proof of reserves. Independent Reserve states a 1:1 reserve but no attestation was found.
- The networks Independent Reserve supports for USDT withdrawals. No network list was read.
- Incidents. No regulator action, court filing or company post-mortem concerning Independent Reserve was retrieved. That is not a finding that none exists.