ExitedEasy Crypto
Easy Crypto was New Zealand's largest cryptocurrency exchange, founded in December 2017 by siblings Alan and Janine Grainger to give people a simple, trusted way to buy and sell digital assets.
- Category
- Fintech
- Fund
- NZVC I
- Website
- swyftx.com
- On TechMates
- 2 episodes
What Easy Crypto does
Easy Crypto grew to serve hundreds of thousands of users across New Zealand and Australia and built the NZDD New Zealand dollar stablecoin. It has since merged with Brisbane-based exchange Swyftx, creating one of Australasia's largest crypto platforms by trading volume and delivering an exit for NZVC I.
The secret
In crypto the scarce asset is trust, not liquidity. Easy Crypto won New Zealand by being the platform that felt safe and simple at a time when most alternatives felt neither, and that regional leadership is exactly what made it worth acquiring.
Why NZVC invested in Easy Crypto
NZVC invested in Easy Crypto from NZVC Fund I, and the position has since been exited. We file the company under Fintech on the portfolio wall.
We backed Easy Crypto because Alan and Janine Grainger built the most trusted crypto on-ramp in New Zealand at a time when most platforms felt risky or opaque, and they grew it into the market leader across Australasia. The product won on simplicity, security, and genuine customer trust, which is the hardest thing to earn in this category. That regional leadership is what made the company a natural acquisition for Swyftx, and the merger delivered an outcome for the company and its backers while giving customers a larger combined platform.
Easy Crypto in the press
- Filed accounts put the Swyftx purchase of Easy Crypto at A$32.97 millionNBR · 12 November 2025
- Easy Crypto merged with the Australian exchange SwyftxRNZ, NZ Herald · 18 March 2025
- Easy Crypto launched a New Zealand dollar stablecoinBusinessDesk · 22 November 2023
- Why Janine Grainger gave up her corporate job for a crypto careerNZ Herald · 12 January 2022
- Easy Crypto raised $17 million and talked up a possible listingNZ Herald · 5 October 2021
Easy Crypto on TechMates
From Edge to Epicenter: Building the NZ Innovation Ecosystem | NZVC Portfolio Day
You hear two founders and a seed investor argue about whether New Zealand is a good place to build. Shaun Quincey, Janine Grainger, and Jacques Richter cover regulators who take meetings, the $10M lifestyle trap, and why the ecosystem needs 5,000 startups rather than 1,000.
A joint episode, alongside Simfuni.
Easy Crypto on TechMates
How I Built & Sold NZ's #1 Crypto Startup
You hear how a $3,000 Bitcoin experiment grew into one of New Zealand's largest crypto exits. Janine Grainger explains why banks refused her, how the company survived market crashes, and what a New Zealand dollar stablecoin is for.
- Building and exiting a crypto startup.
- Regulation and banking challenges.
- Surviving crypto market volatility.