Bitbuy is owned and operated by Toronto’s very own First Ledger Corporation, a group dedicated to providing not only a retail exchange platform, but also an OTC desk for larger traders and a merchant solution for local Canadian businesses. This review restricts itself to the retail exchange platform, which excels in a few areas – pricing is competitive with any other Canadian exchange, and the trading fees are low. Developed by and for Canadians, all the local deposit options are available, and customers are supported by a squad based out of Toronto.

With bitcoin, litecoin, ethereum, and bcash markets, Bitbuy is a great spot for the casual Canadian bitcoin and crypto trader, as a safe and intuitive platform with excellent support.

Getting Started

Users have the option of signing up using facebook or google plus details. We prefer just going through the standard registration process – we would rather not let facebook know we are using a bitcoin exchange, for the obvious reasons.

Now it’s time to set up your two-factor authentication. You will need to set up two-factor authentication with your Canadian telephone number. If for some reason you are without your phone, contact support and perhaps they will disengage the two-factor.

You’ll be redirected to the settings screen, where you may complete your registration. Enter the bio details, shown below.

Upload your Canadian government ID, a selfie holding said ID, and an address verification document, like a utility bill showing your full name and address. Standard stuff.

Tapping the ‘Request Verification’ button will trigger the process. Auto verification via Trulioo is meant to provide most Canadian residents with quick access.

Depositing and Withdrawing

Great, now you are verified and can make a deposit. You can see below their deposit options, as well as the vital stats like fees and how long it takes for your deposit to hit.

You may also deposit btc, ltc, eth, and bch if you’d like, although this is a manual process which involves requesting an address from support, which will be provided via email. Once you fund the address the amount will show up in your bitbuy wallet, and it may be traded, sold, or withdrawn as usual directly from the platform.

See below the withdrawal methods and fees.

The Bitbuy Cryptocurrency platform

Bitbuy provides a safe, trustworthy, convenient and customer-first platform to the Canadian crypto community. Check out the trading interface below, which is intuitive enough for use by even the most novice of bitcoiners.

You can follow bitbuy price action on the chart, located on dashboard.  This means you can expect to receive the best CAD pricing in the market, or close enough to it to confidently trade without worrying you are getting shafted.

See below the fees on their brokerage service, a.k.a. Express Trades:

If you trade on the exchange, you receive much improved pro trade rates:

However, if you expect to buy a good deal of coinage, $5,000 and up, open your account, write to contact@bitbuy.ca with the subject ‘Premium Request’, and ask them for a bit of a discount. Tell them bitreview sent you, might help!

In addition to the potential for lower fees, premium customers have access to bitbuy brokers, who will help with buying and selling logistics and answer any questions. There are often exclusive promotions for premium clientele, making the program well worth checking out.

Support

The premium agents segways us nicely to the general bitbuy support, which is arguably the best of any crypto platform in Canada, and head and shoulders above the neglected crypto-masses who have the misfortune of requiring service from the US exchanges. While the dependence on email for things like getting a non-btc address might be a bit frustrating, it also demonstrates the active support network at bitbuy! And active they are, with a knowledgeable and friendly staff available to quickly assist during Canadian trading hours. We generally have stopped highlighting support in our reviews unless it is particularly good or horrible – so bitbuy support is strong and worth mentioning.

Mobile

Bitbuy is designed to be quite friendly on mobile, and all account functionalities may be utilized just as easily on your mobile device as from a desktop.

Bottom Line

OK, so moral of the review – bitbuy is a safe and easy to use crypto platform, with good pricing and quality, attentive support. If there was one gripe, it would be that the CAD withdrawal fees are a bit higher than the competition, but if you are buying to hold, bitbuy is a top product in the market.