If you want to buy bitcoins in Canada or sell bitcoins in Canada, you have a few choices. Where is the best place to trade bitcoins in Canada? It depends on what you are trying to do, below I will list a few different options.
The key factor for Canadians who want to trade bitcoin is to find a venue that accepts Canadian dollars! There are many bitcoin exchanges around the world, but most offer trading in bitcoin against the biggest fiat currencies such USD, CNY, EURO, YEN, but the Canadian dollar is not really offered except by a few specific Canadian exchanges.
When you’re looking to buy some bitcoins. I think the best place to start is to find a friend who can give you some of their bitcoins in exchange for cash or Interac e-transfer. If you can obtain bitcoins in this fashion, you can avoid a lot of the legal/technical challenges that come with verifying your account.
Keep in mind that established exchanges offering services to Canadians should comply with Canadian AML rules including FINTRAC compliance. There are certain exemptions based on the nature and size of the transaction, but otherwise, you will need to prove your identity to the exchange provider in order for you to safely transfer Canadian dollars to the exchange.
So if you don’t have a friend who can trade bitcoins with you, you’ll need to find a crypto exchange that services Canadians.
The best place to trade bitcoins in Canada is by using QuadrigaCX. QuadrigaCX has the highest volume of any Canadian bitcoin exchange, and very low fees, 0.50% (less than 1%) per transaction. QuadrigaCX complies with Canadian AML laws, so you’ll have to identify yourself in order to gain full deposit and withdrawal functionality, but once you do this, you’ll be able to move Canadian dollars directly from your bank account into crypto currencies.
To avoid this compliance, you can use a service such as QuickBT or CanadianBitcoins, but beware that fees will be much higher. Even most bitcoin ATMs in Canada will require you to submit your cell number and retrieve a code in order to prove basic info before you can process a transaction. These services will charge you anywhere from 5% to 10% of the value of your transaction, and your transaction limits will be severely restricted. Check out this site that provides a map of bitcoin ATMs.
Check out my blog post about using BitAccess using Flexpin Vouchers.
A few other exchanges that Canadians should consider include Kraken & CoinSquare. I’ve tried a few times to verify my account with Kraken, and for whatever reason, they will not process it. I haven’t spent much time figuring out why. With CoinSquare, they are based in Canada and comply with Canadian laws, but they are just a little bit more expensive and less liquid than QuadrigaCX.
