Australia’s first crypto exchange is not a typical success story
“In bull markets you look around and think ‘how do these guys get so big, so fast?’ And it’s tempting to do everything to try to catch up, or instead you can just ride it out yourself as you see fit, he says.
“We may not be the template for what might look like a typical success story — we don’t make headlines with massive fundraising or anything — but CoinJar has always been the kind of company that finds its own way.”
Crypto markets have been in a funk since November, with some valuations down by as much as 60 percent.Credit:Getty
This ideology also extends to Tan’s own involvement in the crypto industry, which is often dominated by loud voices and brash ‘maximalist’ personalities who are quick to condemn projects and companies that don’t fit into their existing ethos.
“Every market cycle you see different heroes and villains, but you don’t have to be one – you can just be yourself,” he says. “Everybody’s always trying to shout over everybody else, but you don’t really have to participate in that.”
Bull market pressure
Alongside Independent Reserve, BTCMarkets and Swyftx, CoinJar is part of only a handful of major Australian exchanges, which for many years operated with minimal international competition – a position that is slowly beginning to change as more players begin to look at the unusual crypto-savvy Australian market.
When you’re in the really busy bull market, you basically don’t have time to do anything but just try to keep your business running. Everyone is just struggling to stay afloat.
CoinJar CEO Asher Tan
However, being partially in the UK means that CoinJar has the advantage of already being regulated under the country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and is one of the few cryptoasset exchanges to achieve that regulation. Australian exchanges are largely unregulated, as the industry is still waiting for last year’s proposed reforms to become law.
Tan says he hopes any regulation implemented in Australia is effective in its goal of protecting consumers, but says lawmakers should be aware of the nuances of legislating the complicated crypto space so as not to go too far with their regulation.
Currently, the broader crypto market has fallen by over 60 percent since hitting an all-time high of over $4 trillion last November. While this is far from Tan’s first bear market, he notes that the crash has been exacerbated by the unusually long and frothy bull market that preceded it.
“It lasted 18 months and was wild and crazy, take the 10x increase in Dogecoin for example,” he says. “But when you’re in the really busy bull market, you basically don’t have time to do anything other than just try to keep your business running. Everyone’s just struggling to stay afloat.”
It’s for this reason that Tan actually welcomes the bear market for CoinJar, saying it will cut out a lot of the “noise” in the industry and allow the business to focus on building out the service, allowing the company to continue to ride out whatever the crypto market throws at it that in the future.
“It’s been a long time. When we started, Ryan and I were still in our twenties,” he says. “I’m just glad I don’t have to explain to you what Bitcoin is.”
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