Bitbuy

Overview

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.

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).

Due to its limited selection of cryptocurrencies and high fees, there are other exchanges Canadians should use like Newton and NDAX which you can see in the alternatives section.

Total Fees & Spreads: Mar 02, 2022 

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 Some info in the video could be outdated so refer to the rest of the page as well.

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.

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.

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.