Overview on Shakepay, lowest cost Bitcoin broker for Canadians

4 min readFeb 21, 2019

This will be a quick overview on how to buy Bitcoin/Ethereum using Interac e-Transfer for the lowest cost using Shakepay.

Shakepay is a Montreal-based tech company that has provided a fantastic application that allows Canadians a fast and inexpensive way to buy/sell and pay with Bitcoin.

The application can be downloaded on Android/iOS or on the web at https://shakepay.co.

*Shameful referral link if you want to use it for a bonus $10 → https://shakepay.me/r/TVHXZJ1

The mobile app is a convenient way to buy/sell/pay Bitcoin with everything you need only a few taps away. The design is sleek and functional with only a few tabs to go through. No lengthy verification and incredible ease of use makes Shakepay the go to application for buying Bitcoin.

Account Setup

The setup process is very simple and straightforward, all you need is an email, username, strong password, and a valid Canadian phone number. Once your account is setup you’re good to go ahead and fund your Shakepay wallet.

Funding/Withdrawing Using Interac e-Transfer

To fund your wallet go to the add funds tab, tap on Interac e-Transfer and you’ll be given the email, security question (your username), and security password (given code). Head to your banks e-Transfer site and complete the transfer. The minimum amount to fund is $5 and the maximum is $10 000, the entire process takes minutes for the e-Transfer to process and at no cost.

If you would like to withdraw Canadian Dollars back into your bank account the process is just as simple. Go to the send tab and tap on Interac e-Transfer, select the amount and continue. The limit is $5 000 per transfer and of course there is no fee and takes minutes to process.

Exchange

Once your wallet is fully loaded with your hard earned money you can easily transfer your Canadian Dollars for Bitcoin or Ethereum. Tap on the exchange tab and enter the desired amount you want to exchange. There is a trading fee of 0.75% for this step which is the only fee that you will pay with Shakepay directly. The trading fee is marginally higher compared to other brokers but the free funding and wallet transfers certainly justify it. Compared to Coinbase the cost to fund your wallet is reduced by as much as 81%.

If you want to exchange your Bitcoin back to Canadian Dollars and into your bank account the process is just as simple and similar. Again tap on exchange tab and tap on the two arrows to the left of the calculator to switch From Bitcoin to Canadian Dollars. *Warning* There is a premium on Bitcoin when you exchange within the app so I cannot recommend going this route. If you need to exchange for conveniences then this is perfectly acceptable.

Sending

Congrats! It was that easy. Now that you have Bitcoin in your wallet you can tap on the send tab to send it to an external wallet or a Shakepay friend just by using their username for free! There is a minimum amount of 0.0001 BTC that can be sent and the miner fees are covered by Shakepay as well.