Bitbuy

Highlights

What Is Bitbuy?

Bitbuy is a Toronto-based cryptocurrency exchange that markets themselves as a secure and trusted platform for Canadians. They have nearly 50+ employees according to LinkedIn and have served 900,000 Canadians since being founded in 2016. It's also endorsed by Shark Tank investor, Kevin O'Leary.

They were acquired by a public company called WonderFi, which is traded on the TSX. Overall, Bitbuy is a legit platform, but it's not in our list of best Canadian exchanges because of the high fees.

Things To Know

Pros and Cons

Key Features & Benefits

Other Bitbuy Features

Bitbuy Walkthrough

When you log on to Bitbuy, it's a very simple platform with only a few pages. Here's what it looks like once you create an account:

1. Home Dashboard

On the log in page, you will see your portfolio value on the top with quick buttons to buy, sell, deposit or withdraw funds. Below, you can click on any of the cryptocurrencies and it will take you to the Express Trade.

2. Express Trade

Express Trade, meant for beginners, will place a market order on Bitbuy's live order books. The minimum trade amount is $5 and every transaction is subject to a 2.00% fee if you're trading under $250K per month.

2. Pro Trade

Bitbuy Pro Tade has live order books, real-time spreads, market orders, limit orders, and charts from TradingView with technical indicators. You can also filter between light-mode and dark-mode and go through a tutorial through the settings icon.

While there is decent liquidity for Bitcoin and Ethereum, there is often low volume for some of the altcoins. Be careful when trading, especially if you'll be placing market orders. I recommend getting a dedicated altcoin exchange so you can trade more coins, with more volume and lower fees.

3. Crypto Staking

Bitbuy introduced staking for Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (MATIC), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and Polkadot (DOT), and more allowing you to earn up to 11.23% APY. Keep in mind, Bitbuy takes a ~25% commission on your staking rewards. For most coins, users can unstake at any moment and rewards are automatically deposited every 2-3 days (dependent on the asset).

BitGo is the custodian that looks after your funds. BitGo is one of the largest crypto custodians with over $64 billion USD in assets under custody.

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, Kraken offers zero-fee staking, more coins overall, and also industry-leading security.

5. Customer Support

Bitbuy offers customer support through email (no live chat is available). You can submit a request here. They also have a support center with blogs, articles and FAQs. I have not personally tested it so I cannot vouch for its quality. 

Fees & Spread

Bitbuy has a flat 2.00% trading fee on all maker and taker orders. Discounts are available if you hit $250K trading volume in 30 days. CAD deposits are free, while CAD withdrawals take a flat 1.50% fee. Crypto withdrawals are fixed and multi-chain withdrawals are not supported. 

• 2% Trading Fee (Discounts start after $250K trading volume)
• 0% CAD Deposits
• 1.5% CAD Withdrawals
• Fixed fee on crypto withdrawals (Multi-chain withdrawals are not supported)
• ~25% Staking Fee (dependent on the asset)

In addition, I bought Bitcoin on all Canadian platforms and published the results here. Bitbuy had a 1.99% total BTC purchase fee (10th overall) and a 1.72% total BTC selling fee (11th place). Bitbuy is expensive overall and this test was before Bitbuy raised their trading fee to 2.00%. You can find an updated list of our best Canadian exchanges here.

Deposit & Withdrawals

For depositing CAD, Bitbuy supports Interac e-Transfer and Wire Transfer. It's free and a minimum $50 deposit is required. You can also buy crypto with a debit card (1.95% fee) and credit card (2.95% fee).

Looking at withdrawals, you can cash out CAD via Interac e-Transfer and Wire Transfer for a flat 1.50% fee. Keep in mind, most Canadian exchanges let you withdraw CAD for free. You can find that information and compare Canadian platforms in our free comparison tool.

Security

Bitbuy is a secure exchange. They were founded in 2016 and have never been hacked or lost user funds. They hold over 90% of crypto in cold storage, have a yearly Proof of Reserves, and users can further secure their account with 2FA.

In addition, they're owned by a public company called WonderFi, which means strict auditing and compliance. There are no red flags and Bitbuy ticks all the boxes. You can visit the trust centre page on their website for more info regarding their security.

Bitbuy Security Features

Here is a list of security measures collected from Bitbuy's website:

• 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
• Proof Of Reserves
• 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)
• 2FA for login
• View system status in real-time
• View login history (IP addresses, times, devices etc) for suspicious activity

While Bitbuy is considered secure, you should not hold a large majority of your assets on a centralized exchange (not your keys, not your coins). If you're in the market for a crypto wallet, you can check out our hardware wallet comparison tool to find the best one.

Is Bitbuy Worth It?

Due to its high fees, we don't recommend Bitbuy at this time. While Bitbuy has 45 coins, staking, high security, and free CAD deposits, the fees are too significant compared to other platforms on the market. You should check out our best Canadian exchanges this year and our free comparison tool where we put every Canadian crypto exchange to the test. 

Bitbuy Alternatives

There are many great platforms in Canada like the choices below. You can also see our best exchanges of the year and free comparison tool where we put every Canadian exchange to the test.