Disclaimer

1. This is an independent information website

CryptoWallets NZ is an independent information website. It does not provide financial advice. Everything published here is general information and research about cryptocurrency wallets, self-custody practice and the New Zealand regulatory environment. It is not personalised advice and it does not take account of your financial situation, your objectives, your risk tolerance or your tax position.

Nothing on this site is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any cryptoasset, to use any particular platform, or to adopt any particular strategy. Where we describe what we would do ourselves, that is an editorial opinion about products, not a recommendation for you.

2. We are not a licensed financial adviser or provider

We are not a financial adviser, not a broker, not a dealer and not a licensed provider under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. We do not hold a licence from the Financial Markets Authority and we are not registered on the Financial Service Providers Register, because we do not provide financial services — we publish information.

If you want advice about your own circumstances, get it from a licensed financial adviser. If you want advice about your tax position, get it from an accountant with cryptoasset experience.

3. Risk warning

Cryptoassets are volatile, speculative and largely unregulated in New Zealand. You can lose some or all of what you put in. Prices can fall rapidly and without warning, markets can become illiquid, and there is no deposit guarantee, no compensation scheme and no lender of last resort.

Self-custody carries specific and permanent risks. If you lose your recovery phrase, your funds are unrecoverable by anyone, including us, the wallet's developers and the manufacturer. There is no reset process, no support escalation and no regulator with the power to intervene. Blockchain transactions cannot be reversed. A transaction sent to the wrong address or on the wrong network may be permanently lost.

New Zealand's own history is instructive: Cryptopia was hacked for roughly NZ$30 million in 2019, Dasset entered liquidation in 2023 with about NZ$6.3 million of customer cryptoassets unaccounted for, and several other local platforms have folded. Platform failure is a realistic risk, not a hypothetical one.

4. The New Zealand regulatory position

Cryptoassets are not the subject of a dedicated statute in New Zealand. The framework is assembled from existing law: the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009, the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008, and the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 where a particular cryptoasset qualifies as a financial product.

Self-custody wallet software and hardware are not licensed financial products and are not supervised by any regulator. There is no dispute resolution scheme, no compensation fund and no insurer standing behind your keys. Before dealing with any platform, check it on the Financial Service Providers Register — registration generally brings access to an independent dispute resolution scheme.

Regulatory descriptions on this site reflect published positions as at September 2026, including the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework effective 1 April 2026 and the transfer of AML/CFT supervision to the Department of Internal Affairs from 1 July 2026. Law and policy change; verify against the primary source before relying on anything.

5. Tax content is general information, not tax advice

Our tax material is drawn from Inland Revenue's published guidance and reputable professional commentary. It is general information and it is not tax advice. Your treatment depends on your circumstances, your purpose in acquiring cryptoassets and the nature of your activity.

Where Inland Revenue has not published guidance — staking rewards being the clearest example — we describe the prevailing professional interpretation and label it explicitly as an inference rather than a ruling. Reasonable people reach different conclusions on unresolved points. For anything material, use an accountant with cryptoasset experience and get your position documented.

6. Accuracy, dates and product information

Product specifications, prices, availability and security information change constantly. We publish the date of our last verification on every comparison, and we state plainly where something cannot be confirmed. Prices quoted in New Zealand dollars are indicative landed estimates including GST — they are not quotes, they do not account for exchange rate movement or shipping variation, and we are not a retailer.

Always confirm current specifications, pricing and availability on the manufacturer's or retailer's own website before buying. Certification claims — Common Criteria assurance levels in particular — are as published by the manufacturer and typically apply to a chip rather than to the finished product.

We make no warranty that the information here is complete, current or free from error, and we accept no liability for any loss arising from reliance on it.

7. Independence and outbound links

No wallet manufacturer sponsors a review, buys a position in a comparison table, or has any input into a grade on this site, and no rating has ever been changed at a vendor's request. Our methodology sets out the scoring in full.

Some pages link to a third-party exchange as one way to fund a self-custody wallet. Those links are marked nofollow. They do not affect any rating, ranking or recommendation on this site. We state on every such placement that the venue is offshore and not listed on the New Zealand Financial Service Providers Register, which means New Zealand dispute resolution schemes do not apply to it.

All outbound links on this site are marked nofollow. We have no control over third-party websites and we are not responsible for their content, their security, their terms or their handling of your data. Linking to a regulator, a manufacturer or a retailer is not an endorsement.

8. No relationship with any platform or provider

We have no relationship with any exchange, broker, wallet manufacturer or wallet developer that would allow us to assist with your account. We cannot recover lost cryptoassets, reverse a transaction, identify the owner of an address, or intervene in a dispute with any provider. If you have lost funds to fraud, report it to Netsafe and to police, and be extremely cautious of anyone who offers to recover it for a fee — see our scams guide.

9. Jurisdiction and intended audience

This site is written for readers in New Zealand. Regulatory, tax, consumer law and retail information is specific to New Zealand and will not apply elsewhere. If you are outside New Zealand, the local rules that apply to you are different and you should not rely on anything here.

10. Contact and corrections

If you believe something on this site is inaccurate, email contact@cryptowallets.nz with a link to the source if you have one. We will check it against the primary material and correct the page. See our contact page.