Shakepay makes it easy for Canadians to buy crypto’s two main assets: Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
For almost 8 years, Shakepay has kept things simple, enabling over 800,000 Canadians to trade their Canadian dollars (CAD) for some BTC or ETH – or vice versa.
You can sign up for Shakepay in as little as 10 minutes and start immediately buying your crypto commission free (though, you will pay a 1-3% spread fee).
Shakepay may have limited features, but it remains one of the simplest and safest platforms for Canadians to use if they are looking to gain exposure to crypto’s two most notable coins.
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Shakepay is one of Canada’s most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, with over 800,000 customers purchasing Bitcoin and Ethereum on the platform since its inception in 2015.
Shakepay supports over 1 cryptocurrencies, but some notable assets are missing. Namely, Avalanche, Binance USD and BNB, which are in the top 20 cryptos by market cap. In total, 2 of the top 20 cryptos are available on Shakepay.
Popular assets on ShakepayShakepay is commission-free, meaning that there are no direct fees for depositing, trading or withdrawing funds. Crypto withdrawal network fees are covered by Shakepay.
The easiest transfer method for Shakepay users is Interac, an interbank network based in Canada. Deposits made using Interac usually only take a few minutes to hit your Shakepay account. There is a low minimum deposit of CAD$5 when transferring via Interac, and a maximum of CAD$10,000.
Wire transfers may take up to 1–2 working days and have a much higher minimum deposit of CAD$5,000.
Bitcoin and Ethereum transfers typically take about 20 minutes to process and have no minimum/maximum limits. Transfer times are dependent on network congestion.
Shakepay doesn’t charge any fees for crypto or fiat transfers.
Shakepay does not charge a fee for buying or selling Bitcoin or Ethereum, but the platform makes money by capturing the price spread between its buy and sell orders.
A price spread is the difference between the price at which someone is willing to sell and the price at someone is willing to buy. On Shakepay, that difference ranges between 1 and 3%.
This fee is a bit high considering that trading fees on most other crypto platforms are well under 1%.
Deposit methods| Transaction type | Fee |
|---|---|
| Deposit funds | Cryptocurrency: None; blockchain network fees apply Wire transfer: None Debit card: None |
| Withdraw funds | Cryptocurrency: None; Shakepay covers blockchain network fees Wire transfer: None Debit card: None |
| Type | Fee |
|---|---|
| Trading | None |
Shakepay trading fees
| Type | Fee |
|---|---|
| Maker (Spread fee) | 1-3% |
| Taker (Spread fee) | 1-3% |
The Shakepay app has all of the same features as the web browser version of the exchange, but with one added feature: ShakingSats.
ShakingSats is a bonus feature of the app that you get access to after you successfully refer a new customer to Shakepay.
Through the ShakingSats feature, eligible customers can then shake their phone every day they open the application and receive some free “satoshis,” or what are commonly referred to as “sats.” Sats are fractions of a Bitcoin.
Each day this is completed in a row will increase the reward rate. The rate caps at Day 201, with a reward of 1,000 Satoshis, equivalent to about CAD$0.53 (as of January 2022).
Shakepay is a very safe cryptocurrency exchange.
Hacks. The platform has never been hacked in its 7-year existence.
Security audits. Shakepay’s most recent security audit was conducted by third-party company CipherBlade in August 2020. This independent audit confirmed that Shakepay had enough funds in reserve to cover the assets of its customers if they were lost.
Regulation. The exchange is regulated by Canadian regulatory bodies.
Asset storage. Nearly all of the digital money managed by Shakepay is held in cold storage (offline). Transactions must be authorized by multiple parties before being accepted, making theft and exploits less likely. Additionally, your funds are held in separate accounts to Shakepay’s reserve funds.
Insurance. Shakepay provides insurance for the funds held in cold storage. This includes insurance for most losses incurred by theft, hacks or misplacement of private keys. Shakepay’s insurance policy was created by Aon and underwritten by Lloyd’s of London.
Shakepay customer support can easily be accessed via the chat box in the bottom right corner of the platform’s website.
The site also features a range of FAQ and help articles.
If you cannot find the assistance you need in these articles, you can submit a contact form directly to a Shakepay staff member. Wait times are typically around a day for responses, which is reasonable, but slower than some alternatives. The response time is slower during high-volume periods or the holidays.
| Google Play ratings | 11,700 reviews, 4.5 stars, 100,000+ downloads |
| Apple Store ratings | 17,500 ratings, 4.5 stars |
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