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A year after scoring a win against the corporate regulator, comparison website Finder has decided to scale back its ambitions in the crypto sector following an agreement to transition its Wallet Ventures customers to Australian crypto exchange Swyftx.
The Brisbane-based Swyftx, which has more than 1.1 million customers across Australia and New Zealand, has agreed to take on the Wallet Ventures clients after Finder announced plans to close its crypto division from 19 June 2025.
Finder says this doesn’t mean it is exiting the crypto space altogether as it will “still be reviewing, comparing, awarding and explaining exchanges, wallets, coins and tokens”.
“We sunset our exchange offering and created a transition pathway for members with a balance should they want to move over to Swyftx,” says a Finder spokesman.
“This has been in the works for a while as we shift our focus and resources back to our bread and butter of comparison.”
Wallet Ventures found itself in hot water in 2022 when the Australian Securities and Investments Commission alleged its Finder Earn crypto-asset product was technically a debenture that required the company to have a financial services licence.
But the company successfully beat the claim in a landmark Federal Court ruling in March last year.
Finder launched its crypto offering four years ago and since then the company says it has “enabled over 80,000 Australians with access to digital assets”.
“We created Wallet Ventures to provide a simple and secure way for Australians to access and invest in cryptocurrency, recognising a gap in the market where offerings were too often complex and difficult to use,” says Finder CEO and co-founder Frank Restuccia.
“The decision to sunset our exchange offering comes alongside the evolution of the exchange landscape in Australia, with there now being a number of great exchanges that successfully cater to the full range of needs from beginner investors to advanced traders.
“The expansive offering and investment from exchanges like Swyftx to provide best-in-class services, means we’ve seen through our goal in helping people find their initial pathway into the exciting world of blockchains and cryptocurrencies.”
Swyftx says the move by Wallet Ventures clients to its platform consolidates its position as one of the largest brokerages in Australia and New Zealand following the company’s acquisition of Kiwi platform Easy Crypto last month.
“Finder’s Wallet Ventures is one of the iconic names in Australian crypto, so we’re looking forward to continuing this legacy,” says Swyftx CEO Jason Titman.
“We’ve worked with Wallet Ventures to ensure their customers have a simple and safe pathway to move to Swyftx if they need to.
“We’ve set-up a secure process so that Wallet Ventures customers can transfer crypto assets to their own individual accounts on Swyftx and they’ll have access to our round-the-clock customer support.”
The Swyftx platform, which was launched in 2018, provides access to more than 440 cryptocurrencies. Wallet Ventures offered its customers access to 18 cryptocurrencies through the Finder App.
The company’s Finder Wallet product, which was discontinued in November 2022 after ASIC’s investigation into the company began, was a digital currency exchange provider through which customers could buy and sell cryptocurrency assets.
Finder Earn allowed Finder Wallet users to transfer and convert the Australian dollars held in their account into a cryptocurrency called TrueAUD.
The product paid customers an annual compounding return of either 4.01 per cent or, in some circumstances, 6.01 per cent, in exchange for the use of their funds by Finder Wallet.
“We were first to market with this groundbreaking ‘Bitcoin for beginners’ product and we are excited to see our customers provided with an easy way to join the Swyftx platform,” says Finder co-founder Fred Schebesta.
“Customers who choose to take advantage of our offer to assist their migration to Swyftx will find a wonderful new home that will be familiar in many ways, and expansive in others.”
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