Buy and sell crypto in Canada

Buying, using and storing cryptocurrency as commodity can be intimidating at first. Not knowing if it's entirely legal and where you can use it as such can be tricky. Crypto currencies are legal in Canada, but the laws can be overwhelming. It's not as simple as using or keeping Canadian dollars in the bank.

Here we take a deep dive at everything crypto related.

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Crypto Cards

Buy Crypto with Prepaid

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Popular cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies regulation in Canada

Buying cryptocurrency

Canada was one of the first countries in the world to legalize crypto back in 2014 and since then there’s been an increasing prevalence of cryptos in the country, as well as their integration into the broader financial system. In fact, Canada is home to the world’s only Bitcoin Embassy, an organization located in Montreal that promotes the national adoption of crypto. 

The Canadian government classes cryptos as securities so they fall under the purview of the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA). Unlike the U.S which has a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Canada doesn’t have a federal securities regulator so the regulation of crypto is delegated to each specific province. As such, the laws enacted by CSA aren’t federal in nature, but instead exist on a provincial level and crypto exchanges are treated differently in each province.

• The Alberta province is regulated by the Alberta Securities Commission
• The British Columbia province is regulated by the British Columbia Securities Commission
• The Saskatchewan province is regulated by the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority 
• The Manitoba province is regulated by the Manitoba Securities Commission
• The New Brunswick province is regulated by the Financial and Consumer Services Commission
• The Northwest Territories is regulated by the Northwest Territories Office of the Superintendent of Securities
• The Nova Scotia province is regulated by the Nova Scotia Securities Commission
• The Nunavut province is regulated by the Nunavut Office of the Superintendent of Securities
• The Ontario province is regulated by the Ontario Securities Commission
• The Prince Edward Island province is regulated by the Prince Edward Island Office of the Superintendent of Securities
• The Quebec province is regulated by the L’Autorité des marchés financiers 
• The Yukon province is regulated by the Yukon Office of the Superintendent of Securities

Provinces regulate crypto based on factors such as frequency of transactions or advertising initiatives, while crypto exchanges that are registered as Money Service Businesses (MSB) with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) are subject to legal guidelines as set by the Crime Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act. 

In the aftermath of FTX’s recent bankruptcy, CSA has also introduced new regulation which includes increased oversight of the custody and segregation of crypto and a prohibition on offering margin, credit or other forms of leverage to Canadian clients. Crypto exchanges are also prohibited from selling deposit value-referenced cryptos or proprietary tokens without authorization from the CSA. 

To buy crypto, you can view our exchange reviews to see which one is best for you based on factors such as fees, cryptos, security, payment methods and features. For example, Uphold is the only multi-asset platform that lets you buy, sell and trade cryptos, fiat currencies, equities and even precious metals such as gold, silver, palladium and platinum, while Ibinex offers one crypto which you can only buy with a credit card. 

Multi-step KYC verification is mandatory in order to buy crypto in Canada. Most crypto exchanges ask you for proof of identity, which can be a drivers license, government-issued ID or passport, as well as proof of address, which can be a utility bill, letter from your local municipality, house rental agreement, tax letter, credit card statement or bank account statement. In addition, you must provide a selfie, as well as a clear and visible picture of the front and back side of your documents. 

Trading cryptocurrency

Crypto exchanges are legal in Canada and fall under the purview of the CSA. In accordance with regulation, crypto exchanges must register as Money Service Businesses with FINTRAC or face monetary penalties. Once registered with FINTRAC, crypto exchanges are mandated to offer a Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance training program for staff through an appointed Compliance Officer. 

In addition, crypto exchanges must maintain transaction records, report any financial crime activities to FINTRAC and assess customers using KYC verification checks. As part of regulation, if a user deposits $10,000 or more in a single transaction, the crypto exchange is required to report this to FINTRAC unless the funds are received by a financial institution. This also applies to any requests to withdraw $10,000 or more through a bank transfer. 

The best crypto exchanges are Binance and Kraken. Binance has the most amount of cryptos and payment methods available, with the lowest trading fees on the market, as well as comprehensive security measures and a Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) where 10% ($1 billion) of all trading funds are stored in order to reimburse users in the event of a hack. Kraken is the safest crypto exchange in Canada as it was awarded an AAA security rating by cybersecurity firm CER. 95% of deposits are held in cold storage, while secure cages remain under 24/7 surveillance by armed guards, alarm systems and video monitors. 

Overall, trading fees for crypto exchanges in Canada range from 0.01%-3.95%. For example, Binance’s trading fee structure is tiered, with higher volume trades being subject to lower fees. The highest tier pays a 0.09% maker fee and a 0.1% taker fee, while the lowest tier pays a 0.02% maker fee and a 0.04% taker fee. 

There are numerous crypto exchanges available in Canada including Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, Uphold, BitGet, Crypto.com, Coinmama, Ibinex and Crypto Voucher. There’s no data available on the number of crypto exchanges in Canada but in 2017, the CSA launched a regulatory sandbox, which is a list of crypto exchanges that the regulator promotes as technologically innovative platforms. The list includes BitBuy, Bitvo, Coinberry, Coinsquare Capital Markets, Fidelity Clearing Canada ULC, Crypto.com, Netcoins, Newton Crypto, CoinSmart and VirgoCX. 

Storing of cryptocurrency

It’s legal to own crypto and keep it as a commodity in Canada but unlike stocks or bonds, you can’t store crypto in an online brokerage account. Instead, crypto wallets contain cryptographically generated strings of letters and numbers known as public and private keys which function as digital signatures that authorize transactions. You can choose between hardware wallets, which keep your crypto offline or software-based wallets that are connected to the internet. 

Popular hardware crypto wallets include Trezor and Ledger, which both connect via a USB cable and support over 1,800 cryptos like Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, Trezor can only connect to Android devices and doesn’t offer a bluetooth option, while Ledger connects to both Android and iOS devices and comes with bluetooth. Trezor wallets also require users to enter the password via a separate keyboard while Ledger users can enter it onto the actual hardware device.

The Trezor crypto wallet costs around $70 and integrates with platforms such as Exodus, Changelly, CoinSwitch and ChangeNow. The Ledger crypto wallet model costs around $80 and unlike Trezor, it uses a unique blockchain ledger operating system known as BOLOS. 

Popular software-based crypto wallets include the Coinbase wallet and MetaMask. The Coinbase wallet offers a mobile app and browser extension that supports thousands of cryptos, as well as built-in access to decentralized applications (Dapps) for staking, yield farming and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). However, the Coinbase wallet doesn’t use two-factor authentication and comes with a 2.49% conversion fee. 

MetaMask is a non-custodial Ethereum-based wallet which only supports ERC-20 tokens but has a top-rated mobile app and staking available directly from the wallet with third-party software integration. MetaMask is free but there’s a service fee of 0.875% for swapping tokens, as well as additional blockchain fees that are dependent on each specific network. 

Hardware wallets are popular because they’re physical devices that are less susceptible to hacks whilst software-based wallets allow for the storage of a larger number of cryptos. Generally, most software-based crypto wallets charge fees ranging between 0.1%-3% while hardware wallets are offline so they don’t come with fees.

Tax

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) treats crypto like a commodity under the Income Tax Act. Any income from transactions involving crypto is regarded as either business income or a capital gain but Canadians aren’t obligated to pay taxes for buying or holding crypto. 

The CRA officially classifies crypto transactions as barter transactions, which is defined as parties carrying out an exchange of goods or services without using legal currency. For example, if someone sells a crypto in exchange for another crypto, this is taxed as a capital gain. Say if you buy 1 Solana for $100 and then later exchange it for 1 Polygon, when calculating the capital gains, you look at the value of 1 Polygon at the time of the exchange and assuming it was worth $200, you then report a capital gain of $100 for Solana. 

Day traders in Canada are subject to capital gains tax and crypto businesses are subject to income tax. While income gains are fully taxable, only 50% of capital gains are subject to tax. For example, if you buy $10,000 worth of Bitcoin and you later sell it for $14,000, you need to report a $4,000 gain but you’re only liable for taxes on half of your profit.

Traders can calculate their payable tax by looking at changes in the price of the purchased crypto and using the proceeds of disposition, as well as the adjusted cost basis (ACB). Disposition refers to the way in which you sell or transfer your crypto and ACB is determined by averaging the cost of each crypto purchase. For example, if you buy Bitcoin at three different times during the year, the ACB is the average of the three Bitcoin purchases. 

In Canada, traders can file their capital gains using the Schedule 3 form while crypto businesses need to report their income using the T2125 form. The CSA recommends keeping the following records to help when filing your taxes:

• The date of the crypto transaction
• The receipt of purchase 
• The value of the crypto in CAD at the time of the transaction
• The public key address
• The transfer records
• Accounting and legal costs

However, Canadians don’t have to pay taxes for gifting crypto, selling crypto, trading or converting between crypto, moving crypto between two wallets or buying goods and services with crypto.  

Security tips

Check user reviews

User reviews enable you to assess which crypto exchange and crypto card is best for you and Trustpilot is a great source as it collates all user reviews on one site and segments them based on star ratings. Check what issues the traders raise and what points they praise the crypto exchange for. For example, a low percentage of users (8%) rate Coinbase with five stars on Trustpilot, which is a low indicator of safety and the most common issues raised are related to account withdrawal and customer service concerns. However, people praise them for the Coinbase Advanced Trade service and a great mobile app with multiple features. 

Question everything

Several crypto exchanges have been involved in large-scale controversy related to hacks with customer funds being stolen and user data compromised. For example, Coinmama underwent a hack in February 2019 when hackers stole 450,000 user email addresses and hashed passwords and then posted them on the dark web registry. As such, it’s imperative to research which crypto exchange is the best in terms of comprehensive security measures and you could also read the company’s privacy policy (located at the bottom of most websites near the terms and conditions) to see how they store data such as your debit card details or residential address. 

Don’t believe everything you see

There’s currently over 23,000 cryptos listed on CoinMarketCap, with new platforms emerging within the industry. As such, regulators like the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have issued specific guidelines related to promotional crypto advertisements. In December last year, the CSA heightened regulation surrounding pre-registration processes and banned all crypto exchanges from both segregating funds from operational cash and offering leverage to margin traders. It’s important for traders to discern which crypto exchange is adhering to CSA guidelines.

No legit deal is too good

Some crypto cards offer reward programs that may seem too good, for example, Wirex is one of the only crypto companies to offer a card savings bonus, which is the annual interest on your WXT balance that’s paid to you monthly. Premium card users can get a 4% annual savings bonus, while Elite card users can get a 12% bonus. In addition, Crypto.com offers unlimited airport lounge access at over 500 airports as well as Airbnb, Expedia, Spotify, Amazon Prime and Netflix reimbursement. However, no legit deal is too good and traders should seek companies that strive to provide products and services with a differentiating factor and unique selling point (USP). 

Opt for regulated exchanges 

Regulated crypto exchanges are subject to Anti-Money Laundering guidelines and other rules related to the reporting of financial crime activities. They are also required to keep records of crypto transactions and audit their networks, which maintains compliance and security standards. Traders can check if the crypto exchange is registered as a Money Service Business with FINTRAC. For example, Binance is registered with FINTRAC as a Money Service Business and as a result, if a client deposits $10,000 or more in a single transaction or withdraws $10,000 or more via bank transfer, the company has to report this to FINTRAC. 

View CER ratings

The cybersecurity firm CER periodically publishes security ratings for crypto exchanges based on factors such as whether the company runs a bug bounty program or conducts penetration testing. For example, Kraken has been awarded the highest AAA rating, while ByBit, OKX and KuCoin have received the lowest A ratings. Considering that hackers collectively stole $3.8 billion worth of crypto last year primarily from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, traders can check to see which crypto exchanges have been awarded an AAA rating by CER. 

Conclusion

The Canadian government has nationally advocated for crypto in the form of a regulatory sandbox initiative and by classing cryptos as securities so that they’re regulated both by the CSA and at a provincial level. Around 2.6 million people in Canada currently own crypto but only 32% of them are women. Crypto has a bright future but the Canadian government could enhance this figure, for example, 47% of women own crypto in Indonesia. Also, only 36% of crypto owners in Canada are aged between 35-54 so the government could further promote crypto adoption among this demographic. 

Overall, the CSA has been enhancing its regulation of crypto in Canada, targeting unregistered crypto exchanges specifically. As well as a ban on offering leverage to margin traders, crypto exchanges in Canada can’t sell deposit value-referenced cryptos or proprietary tokens without authorization from the CSA. In the future, the CSA could issue a full ban on deposit value-referenced cryptos or proprietary tokens.

In addition, the CSA has issued a joint consultation paper with the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) entitled Proposed Framework for Crypto-asset Trading Platforms which sets out guidelines for crypto regulation in Canada. A key point of contention in the paper was whether the CSA is going to continue to classify crypto as a security or instead define it as a derivative given that some provinces have stated that securities legislation shouldn’t apply to crypto. It’s unknown as to whether the CSA is going to formally change the classification of crypto from a security to a derivative but Bill C-249, a draft legislation entitled Encouraging the Growth of the Cryptoasset Sector Act could further the adoption of crypto on both a national and provincial level if it passes in the House of Commons next year. 

CashtoCode is a disruptor in the Canadian market as it offers the easiest way to turn FIAT into an eVoucher, without any extra fees or registration processes.

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