Shakepay

The Bottom Line

Shakepay is great if you're a beginner or want to earn free Bitcoin rewards. It's easy to use, has low fees, free e-transfers and bank transfers, a Bitcoin visa card, and many rewards features. The downsides are it only has 2 coins (BTC and ETH) and no advanced trading.

We reviewed and ranked dozens of exchanges and overall, Shakepay is our best exchange for beginners. If you sign up with this link, you can get $10 free when you trade $100 on the platform. If you're looking for advanced trading features or a better selection of altcoins, Shakepay is not for you.

Overview

What Is Shakepay?

Shakepay is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange for Canadians that's based in Montréal, Quebec. They make it easy for Canadians to buy or sell Bitcoin and Ethereum, regardless of their experience level. They also have many ways to earn free Bitcoin like their Bitcoin cash back card, performing microtasks, and free giveaways.

They have over 1 million Canadians signed up which is an impressive stat.

How Does It Work?

In just a few minutes, users can sign up for an account then deposit CAD with interac e-transfer or wire transfer. Then you can easily buy and sell Bitcoin or Ethereum in just a few taps. Shakepay also offers lots of rewards features which I'll cover later in this post.

Shakepay Features

1. Trading Interface

Trading on Shakepay gets you simple charts, market orders and limit orders. If you want to dollar-cost average Bitcoin or Ethereum, you can also set up recurring buys.

2. Recurring Orders

3. Shakepay Card

The Shakepay Card is a prepaid visa card that lets you earn 1%-2% Bitcoin cash back on every purchase you make. If you want to ditch loyalty points and start earning Bitcoin on all of your purchases instead, it is worth looking into.

You can see my full Shakepay Visa card review or compare all Canadian crypto credit cards. Here is an overview: 

4. Free Bitcoin Rewards

In addition to the Shakepay Card, there are various ways to earn free Bitcoin on the Shakepay app.

• Shaking Sats: Earn free Bitcoin for shaking your phone every 24 hours. Rewards go up as you build your daily streak
• Shakepay Earn: Earn Bitcoin rewards for keeping a CAD balance in your Shakepay account. 
• #ShakeSquad: Launched in June, 2022, you can earn 42 sats every time your friend make a purchase on their Shakepay Card. Create your squad of up to 5 people and everyone will earn 42 sats when a transaction is made. Don't have 4 friends to invite? Go to Shakepay's Discord to find a squad!
• #ShakePaid: Shakepay will pay for random purchases you make on your card. On Discord and twitter, there are tons of people sharing their free purchases. Personally, I've received about 5 purchases for free. The highest being an $11 order for my fast food and a few free coffees. You don't have to do anything other than use your card.
• Giveaways: Shakepay regularly runs free Bitcoin giveaways. You can find them by joining the Shakepay Discord and following them on Twitter.

5. Shakepay A Friend

If you want to pay friends, you can send CAD, BTC or ETH to anyone with a Shakepay account. Just enter their phone number or Shakpay username.

6. Referral Program

Shakepay has a standard referral program where you can invite your friends to sign up with your promo code or link. The sign up bonus right now is $30 free when you trade $100 or more. The rewards are paid out quickly and there is no limit to how many friends you can invite.

7. Shakepay Earn

Shakepay Earn pays you 4% APR (paid in Bitcoin) for holding CAD in your Shakepay account. It's up to a balance of $1,000 and rewards are paid out weekly. You can join the waitlist by updating your Shakepay app. More details can be found in Shakepay's official FAQ.

Fees & Spread

Overall, Shakepay has fair prices but there are cheaper platforms for Canadians to buy Bitcoin and crypto like Newton (0.69% total BTC purchase fee), NDAX (0.49%)  and VirgoCX (0.66%).

We bought Bitcoin on 18 platforms to compare total fees, prices, and spreads. Shakepay had a total BTC purchase fee of 1.03% (4th place). The total BTC selling fee was 1.21% (5th place) and the spread was 2.26% (12th place) on the day we tested.

How Does Shakepay Make Money?

Shakepay makes money on the spread which is the difference between the price you can buy and sell at. There are no fees on Shakepay other than the spread. In our test, Shakepay's spread was 2.26% which ranked 12th place out of 18 platforms.

Shakepay Lawsuit

Recently, a lawsuit was filed against Shakepay and Wealthsimple over alleged hidden fees for crypto trades. When choosing a crypto exchange, it's important to look at the spreads which is where those hidden fees take place. However, Shakepay's fees are not bad overall. I bought Bitcoin on 20 platforms and there are many places with higher fees. The results are published on this comparison page.

Deposit & Withdrawals

Shakepay is a great on-ramp and off-ramp for Canadians. You can deposit and withdraw Canadians dollars free and quickly with e-transfer or wire transfer. Bitcoin and Ethereum withdrawals are also free because Shakepay covers the miner fees and gas fees.

CAD Deposit Methods

CAD Withdrawal Methods

Is Shakepay Safe?

Shakepay is considered a safe crypto exchange. They store crypto in cold storage, never had a hack and offer 2FA and email confirmations for withdrawals in your account. They are also FINTRAC registered in Canada.

Here is a full list of the security features we found:

Company Security Features

• Funds held in cold storage (doesn't say how much)
• No fractional reserve
• Insurance policy for assets in cold storage. Covers most damages, theft, and loss of private keys (doesn't say how much the insurance covers)
• FINTRAC registered: #M17065696
• Third party proof of reserves report
• See the rest on their security page

User Security Features

• Mandatory 2FA for login (SMS or Authenticator app)
• Email conformation for crypto withdrawals (optional)
• Touch ID / Face ID / Pattern login
• Button to "Suspend Shakepay account" (disable all transactions)
• View system status in real-time
• See the rest on their security page

Even though Shakepay is safe, 44% of platforms we reviewed had a hack or incident. We highly recommend storing and protecting the majority of your crypto on a hardware wallet or a wallet where you own the private keys. Try to hold as little as possible on centralized exchanges.

Customer Support

In our experience, Shakepay has fantastic customer support and usually responds within 24 hours. You can start a conversation with their team or visit their help center for articles and FAQs.