Founded in 2016, Bitbuy is one of the larger Canadian cryptocurrency exchanges and has served over 400,000 investors so far. It's also endorsed by Shark Tank investor, Kevin O'Leary. In this review, we put Bitbuy to the test versus the 15 most popular Canadian crypto exchanges. Read on to see how it performed on fees, features, coins offered, security and much more.
The Bottom Line
Bitbuy has 25+ coins, beginner and advanced trading, and strong security features. However, it comes with high fees. The total fee to buy BTC was 1.99% (10th place) and the total selling fee was 1.72% (11th place).
Overall, due to its limited coins and high fees (hidden fees included), we found better platforms for Canadians like Newton and NDAX which you can see in the alternatives section.
Where Bitbuy Shines:
Where Bitbuy Falls Short:
Bitbuy Overview
Total Fees & Spreads: Mar 02, 2022
Coins Offered | 25+ (BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, XLM, EOS, AAVE, LINK, DOGE, DOT, ADA, UNI, SUSHI, MATIC, SOL, MANA, USDC, APE, LUNA, and more) |
Total BTC Purchase Fee | 1.99% (10th place) |
Total BTC Selling Fee | 1.72% (11th place) |
BTC Spread | 0.41% (7th place) |
Trading Fee | 1.50% |
CAD Deposits | Free Interac e-Transfers (min $50) Free Wire Transfers (min. $10,000) 6.25% Credit Card buys |
BTC Withdrawal Fee | 0.00035 BTC |
Notable Features | - Express trade for beginners - Pro trading interface - Crypto staking - Owned by a publicly traded company |
Listen while you read. Watch the video review published on Mar 10, 2022. Some info in the video could be outdated so refer to the rest of the page as well.
About Bitbuy
Bitbuy is a Toronto-based cryptocurrency exchange that markets themselves as a secure and trusted platform for Canadians. They have nearly 100 employees according to LinkedIn and have served 400k+ Canadians since being founded in 2016.
Some Stats:
- Founded in 2016
- Acquired by WonderFi (publicly traded company)
- Served 400,000+ Canadians
- Over $5 billion traded on the platform
Key Features
1. Express Trade
2. Pro Trade
Bitbuy offers a pro trade with real-time spreads, market and limit orders, trading view charts with technical indicators, live order books and 20 trading pairs. You can also filter between light-mode and dark-mode and go through a tutorial through the settings icon.
3. Crypto Staking
Bitbuy introduced staking for Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana allowing you to earn up to 6.51% per year. It also has Polkadot, Cosmos, and Cardano listed as coming soon. Users can unstake at any moment (except for ETH) and rewards are automatically deposited every 2-3 days (dependent on the coin).
While Bitbuy is a convenient and easy way to stake crypto assets on a centralized platform, there are better staking choices for Canadians. For instance, Ledger staking offers higher rewards and more coins while allowing you to self-custody your funds in cold storage. When it comes to centralized exchanges, Kraken is the best choice for staking in my opinion since it has the most coins, higher rewards, and a solid reputation.
4. OTC
Bitbuy has an over-the-counter service for clients looking to trade over $20,000. This service can help you save on slippage by working with a Bitbuy expert.
5. Fractional Stock Trading
Bitbuy is introducing fractional stock trading onto their platform. It's expected to launch in the first quarter of 2023 and you can join the waitlist on their website. According to their site, you will get access to fractional trading for thousands of US stocks and ETFs all under the same Bitbuy account.
When this launches, it will be competing with Wealthsimple which has over 2.5 million clients in Canada. Bitbuy has not announced the fees. We'll update this post when they release more info and we'll see if it's better than other Canadian stock brokers.
6. Affiliate & Referral Program
Referrals currently give $20 and get $20 when the client makes a $250 or more deposit.
The Bitbuy affiliate program for influencers offers a tiered reward system starting at $75 per depositor. It goes up to $200 per depositor if you refer 151+ depositors per month.
7. Other Features
- Bitbuy API
- Corporate accounts
- Market research
Fees & Spread
From our tests, Bitbuy had a 1.99% total BTC purchase fee (10th overall) and a 1.72% total BTC selling fee (11th place). As a result, Bitbuy is pretty expensive overall and it was mostly due to the high trading fees and CAD withdrawal fees.
We recommend other platforms in Canada that are cheaper like NDAX, VirgoCX and Newton.
We tested 18 Canadian cryptocurrency exchanges at the same time to compare the true fees. This data was collected on Mar 2, 2022 at 4:41pm and is subject to change since spreads and prices change daily.
- Total BTC Purchase Fee = CAD Deposit Fee + Trading Fee + Reference Price Difference
- Total BTC Selling Fee = CAD Withdrawal Fee + Trading Fee + Reference Price Difference
You can compare all platforms from the price test on this page.
Bitbuy Fees | Amount |
|---|---|
*Total BTC Purchase Fee | 1.99% (10th place) |
*Total BTC Selling Fee | 1.72% (11th place) |
Tiered Trading Fee | 1.50% for volume under $250k |
CAD Deposits | Free |
CAD Withdrawals | 1.50% fee |
BTC Withdrawal Fee | 0.00025 BTC |
Other Fees | N/A |
Price Test & Spread
Price Test (On Mar 2, 2022) | Prices |
|---|---|
BTC Spread | 0.41% (7th place out of 18) |
BTC Buy Price | $55,936 |
BTC Sell Price | $55,708 |
Ref. Price Difference | Buy: +0.29% Sell: -0.12% |
Reference Price (Google) | $55,774 |
Deposit & Withdrawals
Bitbuy is a decent fiat on-ramp for Canadian dollars. CAD deposits are free with a minimum $50 e-transfer. It's not a good choice for cashing out CAD since there is a flat 1.50% withdrawal fee. If you want to cash out Canadian dollars, there are many other options in Canada that are free.
CAD Deposit Methods
Type | Fee | Time | Limits (24 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
Interac e-Transfer | Free | Near Instant | Min $50 - Max $10k |
Wire Transfer | Free | 3-5 business days | Min $10k - Max $500k |
CAD Withdrawal Methods
Type | Fee | Time | Limits (24 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
Interac e-Transfer | 1.50% | Near Instant | Min $50 - Max $10k |
Wire Transfer | 1.50% | 3-5 business days | Min $20k - Max $500k |
Crypto Withdrawal Fees
Type | Fee | Minimum Withdrawal |
|---|---|---|
Bitcoin | 0.00035 BTC | 0.001 BTC |
Ethereum | 0.007 ETH | 0.05 ETH |
XLM | 0.02 XLM | 26 XLM |
USDC | 20 USDC | 35 USDC |
Security
Company Security Features
- Founded in 2016 and no hacks or incidents ever
- Insurance policy and custody provided by BitGo
- 95%-99% of assets held in offline cold storage
- OSC regulated
- FINTRAC regulated in Canada: MSB #M20728803
- Owned by WonderFi, a publicly traded company (Ticker: WNDR-NE)
- KYC required (must prove identity when signing up)
- See more on the Bitbuy security page
User Security Features
- 2FA for login
- View system status in real-time
- View login history (IP addresses, times, devices etc) for suspicious activity
Can You Trust Them?
Bitbuy is considered a very safe platform since it holds over 95% of crypto in cold storage, has its assets insured and is owned by a publicly traded company. They've also never had any hacks or incidents (founded in 2016).
⚠️ Even though Bitbuy is considered safe, 44% of platforms we reviewed have had hacks or incidents. We strongly recommend storing and protecting your crypto on a hardware wallet or a wallet where you own the private keys.
Customer Support
Bitbuy offers customer support only through email. You can submit a request here. They also have a support center with blogs, articles and FAQs.
Here are the best crypto exchanges for Canadians right now. We assessed 18 platforms across 60 variables and 1080+ data points.
