Shakepay Review for Canada 2024

Many global exchanges nowadays provide services to international users today without having to face a slew of legal challenges imposed by the financial regulatory bodies. Still, crypto exchanges often have some trading restrictions or a steep price tag, especially when it comes to offering financial services to international users. 

Fortunately for Canadians, Shakepay delivers cryptos instantly to their wallets via a fully regulated platform in accordance with Canadian and international regulations, at no cost, and with some pretty lucrative benefits.

If this got your attention, allow us to introduce you to one of the most innovative fintech companies in the industry. 

About the Shakepay Exchange

One of Canada’s most popular crypto brokerages, Shakepay is a Montreal-based fintech company for developing financial apps in support of building wealth. Established in 2015, this platform is ideal for beginners looking to purchase the two most potent cryptocurrencies on the market.

Shakepay allows you to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) without paying a commission, thus making it an excellent option for beginner traders looking to make smaller investments.

Additionally, Shakepay allows you to send and receive cryptos from your contacts in a matter of seconds and earn free Bitcoin through a fun mobile app feature. If you live in Canada, you can use this cryptocurrency exchange to send your bitcoins directly to your bank account without incurring fees.

Main Features

The main features of Shakepay reflect the precise aim of its developers – to establish a user-friendly platform that enables streamlined exposure to the BTC and ETH markets for new traders. For this purpose, Shakepay provides a few highly efficient products.

The Shakepay Reward Program

Unlike most of the exchanges in the industry that try to attract their users with a wide offer of cryptocurrencies and advanced trading tools, Shakepay developers have opted for a unique approach to attract traders to their platform. Namely, one of the hallmarks of this exchange is the Shaking Sats Reward Program application.

In a fun and amusing way, Shakepay allows traders to earn a small fraction of a Bitcoin, i.e. a satoshi, every time they open Shakepay’s iOS and Android-supported mobile app and – shake their phones. That’s right! Just by shaking your phone, a satoshi drops in your crypto wallet. Ingenious, isn’t it? 

Before you get overly excited at the prospect of receiving free crypto and immediately grab your phone ready to shake sats all day long, you should know that this window of opportunity only appears once every 24 hours.

The Recurring Buy Feature

Shakepay’s recurring buys feature lets you set up automated rules for future purchases and schedule daily, weekly or monthly automatic purchases. You can also set the amount of CAD you intend to spend on your crypto purchase and the type of cryptocurrency you want to obtain using this functionality.

To guarantee that the recurring buy works successfully, you must show that you have enough money on your balance to make the purchase.

Shakepay Visa Prepaid Card

Free satoshis aren’t the only reward for Shakepay traders. You also get #shakepaid with free Bitcoin on every purchase, automatically settled to the Bitcoin balance in your Shakepay account when you use the virtual Shakepay Visa Card. 

Canadian traders can use the Shakepay Visa Prepaid Card to shop online with Apple Pay or Google Pay or in physical stores accepting Visa. Your Shakepay Canadian dollar balance funds these purchases.

Shakepay’s dollar balance can only be spent if you first top up your account through Interac e-Transfer. Alternatively, you can sell your cryptocurrencies for Canadian dollars to make a deposit. 

Last but not least, you’ll get 2% cashback in Bitcoin on your first $5,000 transaction made with the Shakepay Visa Prepaid Card. 

Supported Cryptocurrencies

Shakepay accepts only the two most prominent cryptocurrencies on the market – Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). To ensure that the platform’s liquidity is not impeded, Shakepay opted to support these two specific cryptocurrency projects since they are both exceedingly successful and have a high market worth.

Payment Methods

This Canadian exchange enables free deposits and withdrawals through Interac e-Transfer ® or wire transfer. While the Interac e-Transfer ® payments are processed instantly, the wire transfer payments generally take a day to complete. On the other hand, Shakepay does not support credit card or debit card payments. 

Bitcoin deposits are also available for free after two confirmations on the blockchain, and the processing time for these payments is around 20 minutes. If you want to move your bitcoins from the platform, ShakePay covers the mining costs of this outgoing transaction.

The same goes for transferring your Ethereum coins to another wallet address. Both deposits and withdrawals in ETH are also fee-free on Shakepay. You can make Ether deposits after 60 confirmations on the blockchain. 

There’s a minimum of 0.1 ETH you can move out from the Shakepay platform when it comes to ETH withdrawals. The exchange will reimburse Ethereum mining expenses, i.e. gas costs in these transactions. The minimum withdrawal amount on this currency fluctuates based on the total gas costs paid for the transaction.

In addition, the exchange enables you to instantly receive or send up to $999 worth of crypto or fiat currency to your friends through the free Shakepay-a-Friend service. 

Trading Fees and Limits

Shakepay is not your typical cryptocurrency exchange because it operates more like a brokerage house. Specifically, this trading platform does not charge any fees, which is usually the primary source of revenue for the crypto exchanges. 

Instead, when you buy BTC or ETH using Shakepay, you will encounter a variable price spread between the buy/sell bids that can cost you up to 3% of the transaction, regardless of whether you’re buying or selling any of these two coins. 

Is Shakepay Safe to Use?

Shakepay puts high importance on the security of your account, private details, and funds. As a result, most cryptocurrencies deposited on this exchange are stored offline in cold storage wallets that are physically protected. A minimal amount of the funds is stored in hot wallets to provide sufficient liquidity for routine transactions.

Furthermore, to comply with KYC/AML user authentication protocols as a regulated exchange, Shakepay collects some of your personal information and documents, such as your address, phone number, a selfie holding your photo ID or passport, and stores them in a secure database.

To repay any possible damage, misappropriation of funds, or loss of private keys, Shakepay provides an insurance policy covering the cold storage funds issued by the world’s leading insurance companies, Aon and Lloyd’s of London.

While some of your personal information, such as your name and date of birth, must be retained by the exchange, you can be confident that the rest of your information is secure. 

Namely, all personal data is transferred to the platform’s servers over SSL-encrypted passageways and saved in the Shakepay’s database. These data are further safeguarded using AES-256 encryption, rendering them unreadable in the event of a platform security breach. 

Shakepay also delivers security notifications to your verified email to alert you of any unauthorized use of your account or credentials. 

Privacy Laws and Regulatory Evidence 

Shakepay Inc. is a Money Service Business that is regulated by FINTRAC (license #M17065696), AMF (#904007), and Revenu Québec (licence #904007) in all Canadian provinces and territories. 

Moreover, the exchange strictly adheres to Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), S.C. 2000, c. 5, and Quebec’s Act Respecting the Protection of Personal Information in the Private Sector (R.S.Q. c. P-39.1).

Customer Support

If you need help from Shakepay’s support team, you can reach out directly via their support chat. You need to sign in using your @shaketag (username) and password, and then click on the blue bubble in the bottom right corner of the web-based platform. Alternatively, go to Settings > Help > Support Chat using Shakepay’s mobile app.

Shakepay has a strong social media presence, so you can also reach them via any of their pages on Discord, Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, or Instagram if that’s more convenient for you. The exchange also has a YouTube channel where you can follow their instructions through the highly useful and educational video tutorials.

The Bottom Line

If you’re new to cryptocurrency trading and want to get fast and direct exposure to the BTC and ETH markets, Shakepay is the platform for you. This Canadian exchange not only offers instant selling and buying of two of the world’s most liquid cryptocurrencies, but it also encourages traders to earn free bitcoins through a fun and easy app. 

However, if your trading strategy needs more variety in terms of broader cryptocurrency offers or more sophisticated trading tools, we suggest you browse through our reviews on the most popular exchanges in Canada and hopefully find an adequate trading platform.

Perhaps Binance, Coinbase, or Coinberry could fulfill your trading expectations if you’re a beginner looking for a wider variety of cryptocurrencies.