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Shakepay is a Montreal company that has sold bitcoin to Canadians since 2015 through an app with one buy screen and nothing else on it. Our verdict: the easiest first purchase in Canada, and the cheapest way to buy a fixed amount every week, because scheduled bitcoin buys pay no spread after the first seven days. One-off buying is another matter. The spread of up to 2.0% buried in the price is more than Newton or NDAX charge, and Shakepay has published no proof of reserves since 2020.
Facts on this page were checked against Shakepay’s own fees, about, card and help centre pages on September 22, 2026.
| Founded | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Based in | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Coins | Bitcoin, ether and USDC |
| Fees | No commission. The charge is a spread Shakepay targets at 0.5% to 2.0% over its benchmark price, which it may raise by up to 1.5% more in bad markets; bitcoin recurring buys and payroll auto-buys pay 0% spread from day 8; Interac e-Transfer and wire deposits are free |
| Custody | Custodial; send bitcoin to your own wallet on-chain at normal speed for nothing, with Shakepay paying the miner fee, or over Lightning for 1 satoshi plus 0.0021% |
| Best for | Canadians who want one simple buy screen, a weekly recurring buy at 0% spread, and a free way to move bitcoin to their own wallet |
Compare Shakepay side by side with other exchanges
What it is
Shakepay launched in 2015 and calls itself “a money app that allows you to pay friends, buy and earn bitcoin, and send money effortlessly,” used by “more than one million Canadians.” Its Montreal address, 500 Place d’Armes, is described on the about page as a mailing address with no employees at it, so the company is remote.
The product is a phone app. It sells bitcoin, ether and USDC, sends dollars to another Shakepay user instantly, and comes with a Visa prepaid card. There is no order book and no advanced screen to graduate to. That is the point: open the app, see one price, tap buy. It is why Shakepay takes the top mark for ease on our chart.
The card. The Shakepay Visa Prepaid Card spends your Canadian dollar balance and pays “up to 1.5% in bitcoin cashback on every purchase,” with no annual fee, in “all 13 provinces and territories.” The same page says those dollars are “not insured by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC),” so it is not a reason to keep money there.
Fees
Shakepay charges no commission. Its whole charge is a spread, the gap between the price you are quoted and the wider market price: a fee that lives inside the price instead of on a separate line, so it is easy to miss. Its help centre is unusually direct about it: “We target a spread ranging from 0.5% to 2.0% over the Benchmark Price,” and “in the event of adverse market conditions or liquidity constraints, the spread may be increased by up to an additional 1.5%.” Our chart shows 2.0%, the top of the published range. On a bad day it could be higher.
You fund the account by Interac e-Transfer, the standard Canadian way to send money from a bank account using an email address or phone number. Nearly every bank offers it, and Shakepay charges nothing either way.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| One-off buy or sell | A spread inside the price, targeted at 0.5% to 2.0% |
| Bitcoin recurring buys and payroll auto-buys | 0% spread from day 8, with no monthly cap |
| Funding by Interac e-Transfer or wire | Free |
| Bitcoin to your own wallet, normal speed (about 12 hours) | Free, and Shakepay pays the miner fee |
| Bitcoin over Lightning | 1 satoshi plus 0.0021%, up to $5,000 CAD a time |
| Cashing out to your bank | Free |
A single $1,000 purchase can cost about $20, against roughly $11.50 at Newton and $2 at NDAX. Buy on a schedule and the picture flips: “regular spread will apply for the first 7 days. Starting on day 8, you’ll pay $0 spread on eligible scheduled buys,” with “no monthly cap.” Two limits: it covers bitcoin bought with Canadian dollars only, and for the payroll version “only direct deposits coded as payroll will trigger the auto-buy.” Nothing on this site beats a fee of zero.
Buying bitcoin step by step
- Download the app, sign up, and verify your identity with a government ID, which every regulated Canadian platform requires. Turn on two-factor login before you put any money in.
- Fund the account with an Interac e-Transfer from your bank, between $5 and $10,000, which arrives in minutes. Larger amounts go by wire in one to two working days, also free.
- Buy on the Exchange screen. Prices there are “refreshed every 30 seconds,” and what you see when you buy is “the exact buy price (in Canadian dollars) at that moment.” The home screen shows a different, averaged figure, so trust the buy screen.
- If you plan to keep buying, set the recurring buy up now: the spread applies for seven days and drops to zero on day 8.
- Move the bitcoin to a wallet you control. Normal speed costs nothing and takes about twelve hours; Lightning suits small amounts in a hurry. Read Wallets and Self-Custody first, and send a small amount before a large one.
Where you can use it
Canada only, and all of it. Shakepay’s own footer says it “is a member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and is registered as an Investment Dealer with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and the securities regulatory authorities in all Canadian provinces and territories.” Quebec is covered in full: the company is in Montreal and the AMF is Quebec’s own regulator. There is nothing here for readers in the United States.
Shakepay’s referral programme is open to its own customers, which in practice means residents of Canada. The link comes from the app, under Settings and then Refer a friend, and you and your friend “each get $20” once they verify and buy at least $100 of bitcoin or ether.
Security and trust
Shakepay is custodial: it holds your bitcoin until you move it out, with the ordinary risk that carries. The regulation makes that easier to live with. It is a CIRO dealer member, a registered investment dealer with every provincial regulator, and a FINTRAC money services business, number M17065696. Eleven years in, we found no reported loss or freeze of customer funds.
The gap. There is no current proof of reserves. The only reserves document on Shakepay’s help centre is a review by CipherBlade which begins “as of August 26, 2020,” six years ago. Plenty of exchanges publish nothing at all, so this is not a scandal, but you cannot check today that the bitcoin is there. Registration is not insurance either: your dollar balance is not covered by CDIC, and no Canadian scheme covers crypto assets. The habit that answers all of it is to move bitcoin to your own wallet.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Bitcoin recurring buys and payroll auto-buys pay 0% spread from the eighth day, with no monthly cap, which is the cheapest regular buying in Canada that we know of.
- Sending bitcoin to your own wallet at normal speed is free and Shakepay pays the miner fee; Lightning costs 1 satoshi plus 0.0021%.
- A CIRO member registered as an investment dealer with the AMF and the securities regulators in every province and territory.
Cons
- The cost is a spread inside the price you see, not an itemised fee, and at up to 2.0% a one-off buy costs more than at Newton or NDAX.
- The only reserves report on its help centre is a CipherBlade review dated August 26, 2020, so there is no current proof of reserves to check.
- Canada only, and the app sells ether and USDC alongside bitcoin.
Taxes
Buying bitcoin is not a taxable event in Canada. Selling it, spending it or swapping it for another coin is. The Canada Revenue Agency’s crypto-asset guidance, last updated December 2, 2025, says a disposition “may occur” when you “trade or exchange it for government-issued currency or another type of crypto-asset,” “use it to buy goods or services,” or give it away, and that if you disposed of it on account of capital “you must include half of your capital gains (known as taxable capital gains) in your income for the year.” Our own Bitcoin and Taxes page covers the United States only, so start from the CRA’s own crypto-asset pages. Export your Shakepay history and keep it. This is education, not tax advice.
Who it’s for
Shakepay suits a Canadian who wants to buy the same amount of bitcoin every week and stop thinking about it. Set the recurring buy, wait a week, and from then on you pay nothing to buy and nothing to withdraw, which the cheaper order-book exchanges cannot match. It also suits anyone who has opened a trading app, seen the charts and closed it again.
It does not suit one large purchase, where up to 2.0% is real money and NDAX at 0.20% saves most of it, or someone who wants their bitcoin never to sit with a company at all, which is Bull Bitcoin. If you want the fee printed as a number rather than hidden in the price, look at Newton.
The button below goes to Shakepay’s ordinary sign-up page and carries no referral code, because its referral programme runs between its own customers and we are not in it. If that changes we will say so here and on our affiliate disclosure page. This is education, not financial or tax advice.
Next
- Newton review: the fee printed as a number.
- NDAX review: a flat 0.20% on a busier screen.
- Bull Bitcoin review: bitcoin only, nobody holds it for you.
- Compare the four side by side.
- Answer three questions for a suggestion.