Save 90% On Bringing Money Into Canada With QCAD and KOHO — Here’s How In 5 Easy Steps
No more philosophizing, no more “won’t it be nice when”, no more “coming in Q4 next year”. This is here now. For the first time, all of the pieces are in place for Canadians of all kinds to bring money into the country instantly and spend it immediately. All for up to 90% less than the old ways of doing it.
This will be a living document, the old ways of moving money have run out of innovation, the new ways are just getting started and are already significantly less expensive. We will also be rolling out numerous solutions via our Grapes Digital Money API that embed many of these routes into the back-end of other consumer facing applications (www.finoo.io is a great example for Brazilian students paying tuition), but here we’re laying out the step by step nuts and bolts for all to see.
Here is step by step how to move 5000 USDC into a QCAD KOHO Mastercard, for less than $10 bucks in fees, and in under 10 minutes.
Plus you get $20 in cash back off your first purchase on your card and can earn 4.5% on balances! So really you’re making money here ;).
Step 1: Getting Started (2 Sign Ups)
Before doing anything below, get yourself set up in Canada with two quick registrations that will take you less than 5 minutes to join:
Sign up #1: Grapes Finance — Stablecorp’s Digital Money Platform
Head to www.grapesfinance.com and click on “Sign Up” and follow the sign up flow.
Note that KYC for Grapes will be completed once you connect your wallet and initiate your first transaction! More info in Step 5 below.
Note also that you will need to set up 2fa via an authenticator app like Authy or Google Authenticator.
Sign up #2: KOHO QCAD Grapes Mastercard — A pre-loaded mastercard that can be funded directly from Grapes using QCAD
Head to the QCAD KOHO Mastercard page and Open a KOHO Account.
Note that new users get a sign up bonus of $20 cashback from KOHO and are able to earn 4.5% on their balances + Grapes will cover your first blockchain transaction fee to fund your card! (more details in Step 5 below).
Also note that KOHO doesn’t require KYC immediately at sign up, but there are limitations on the account without verifying. The key limitation being a $900 daily e-transfer funding limit (limit is $5,000 with verification).
Once you have signed up for both, to link the two simply:
1. Grab the “add funds” e-transfer address from KOHO
2. And add that email to the Interac e-transfer email address in Grapes in the Profile section
Step 2: Find A Venue to Get USDC (or certain other local Digital Money) on the Solana or Ethereum blockchains
We won’t spend a ton of time here as there are hundreds of starting points to this journey. USDC, issued by our investor and partner Circle is likely the most trusted Digital Dollar in the world. Most jurisdictions have some semi-efficient way to acquire USDC via local on-ramps. Many independent contractors or international businesses are already paid in USDC as well. The key piece is to execute a domestic transaction in your local jurisdiction using domestic rails. Here are some of our current partners and onramps that we like:
1. Circle or Coinbase in the US
2. StraitsX in Singapore
3. Bitmama in Nigeria
4. Bitso in Latin America
Certain of these platforms (like StraitsX) also offer their own non-USD domestic currency Digital Money (XSGD). As long as there is a pair between that Digital Money and USDC on any of the Decentralized Exchanges where QCAD is also listed (more on that below) then it can often be more efficient to go into the local digital money first as there generally will be no fees and no spread.
A quick note on blockchains. QCAD is on Solana, Ethereum, Stellar and Algorand with several others in the pipeline. USDC is on all those chains and many more. There are myriad differences between blockchains, but functionally for this practical guide, fees and DEX functionality are what we care about. Stellar and Algorand we are generally using as “behind the scenes tech” that we are rolling out with our B2B API, so we will focus on Ethereum and Solana in this consumer facing guide.
Blockchain Option #1: If you are getting USDC on the Ethereum blockchain, you will need to:
Download and create a Metamask wallet either a simple browser wallet or, if you are transacting higher amounts, consider also connecting a Ledger hardware wallet to your Metamask
Note that you will need to acquire a small about of ETH in order to pay for transaction fees from this wallet. You can do this in a variety of ways including directly from MetaMask using e-transfer. Minimum purchase is C$35, which will be enough for ~6–7 Ethereum transactions.
OR: If it is your first blockchain transaction to fund your KOHO Card. Click on the Support function to request Grapes to fund your ETH for you :)
Blockchain Option #2: If you are getting USDC on the Solana blockchain, you will need to:
Download and create a Phantom wallet either a simple browser wallet or, if you are transacting higher amounts, consider also connecting a Ledger hardware wallet to your Phantom
Note that you will need to acquire a small about of SOL in order to pay for transaction fees from this wallet. You can do this in a variety of ways including directly from Phantom using e-transfer. Minimum purchase is C$50, which will be enough for ~9000 transactions (lol I know).
OR: Again, if it is your first blockchain transaction to fund your KOHO Card. Click on the Support function to request Grapes to fund your SOL for you :)
Step 3: Swapping USDC or Other Digital Money to QCAD (3 Ways)
There are currently 3 key ways to swap USDC to QCAD although more are coming online all the time:
Swap Option #1: Directly on Grapes — Simple and Efficient — 0.4% Total Fees
With Grapes you can send USDC directly to CAD and even send it directly to the KOHO QCAD Mastercard. It is easy and simple and skips the DEX step outlined below, but the cost is slightly higher. USDC to QCAD / CAD transactions on Grapes cost 0.4%, which is still substantially lower than the 3–4% you would routinely pay at a bank, but there are even more efficient routes!
Note: for details on executing this directly with Grapes please see Step 4 / Step 5 below.
Swap Option #2: Uniswap V3 on Ethereum — Trade on DEX — 0.25% Total Fees
Efficient, but with higher blockchain fees on Ethereum. The cost on Ethereum will depend on the liquidity and gas fees at the time, but with the efficiency of Uniswap for a 5000 transfer the price slippage is minimal. Trading fees on the QCAD / USDC pair is only 0.05%.
So the all in fees for USDC / QCAD on Uniswap are:
Trading Fee (0.05%) + Price Slippage (~0.05% — 0.1%) + Blockchain fee ($5–10) = ~0.25–0.35% all in fees
Uniswap also has several other currencies on it which all have pairs with USDC. Uniswap is a smart router type structure so it will automatically combine pools to create the most efficient flow. It’s not quite as efficient as a direct pair, but it’s not bad!
Other currencies on Uniswap with good liquidity against USDC:
1. XSGD
2. GYEN
3. EUROC
4. GBPT
Swap Option #3: The Orca DEX on Solana — Trade on DEX — 0.15% Total Fees
The Orca DEX is similar to Uniswap in terms of efficiency for pricing, but the Solana blockchain is quite a bit less expensive, with transactions costing fractions of a cent. The trading fees again are only 0.05%
So the all in fees are:
Trading Fee (0.05%) + Price Slippage (~0.05% — 0.1%) + Blockchain fee ($0.002) = ~0.15% all in fees
Similar to Uniswap, Orca also has other currency pairs on it including:
i. EUROe
ii. XSGD
All-In Pricing Comparison Between Grapes and TradFI
Below is a pricing chart comparing all of the Grapes options to what is available in traditional finance options, broken down by type of fee and totals. This is for 5000 USD to CAD on a spendable card
Step 4: Connecting Wallets with QCAD to Grapes
This step is simple as Grapes is not a custodial platform so there is no need to transfer assets to us or spend any money on transaction costs to move assets “into” the Grapes platform. Grapes operates as a Decentralized Application, which means you can connect your Metamask or Phantom wallet directly and then transact directly from that wallet, keeping you in control at all times. The process today is slightly different for Ethereum and Solana, but will look and feel identical very soon.
Blockchain #1: Connecting Ethereum wallet to Grapes with Metamask
In the top right of the Grapes homepage, select MetaMask from the drop down and click Connect wallet.
This will trigger your Metamask application to ask you to confirm connection and once you do then voila you can see your USDC and QCAD balances right in Grapes!
Note that if you have having issues connecting your Metamask you can reach out to the Support function right in Grapes and our team will help troubleshoot!
Blockchain #2: Connecting Solana wallet to Grapes with Phantom
Currently the Grapes platform has not completed the automated integration of Phantom right into the front end and as such we have a manual process with an Adobesign form that will be outlined in the next section
Step 5: Fund your QCAD KOHO Mastercard!
Time to close the loop and spend some QCAD!
Now that you’ve got your QCAD or USDC in your Grapes connected wallet it’s time to fund your KOHO Mastercard for free!
Important Note: Note that the funding limits for KOHO cards are 900 QCAD per day if you have not passed KYC on KOHO and 5000 QCAD per day if you are verified.
Blockchain #1: For Ethereum
Note that before this transaction goes through, the Grapes KYC process will be automatically triggered. It is quick and straightforward and powered by our partners at iComply.
In the Grapes portal simply click on the “Send” tab and then “Send Fiat to my Bank Account”
Select the amount of QCAD or USDC you want to send (no fee for QCAD, 0.4% FX spread for USDC) and click “Send”. Note again that there is a 900 daily QCAD limit on funding for unverified KOHO users and 5000 daily limit for verified KOHO Users.
Select Interac e-Transfer as the payment method
Confirm that your e-transfer e-mail matches the KOHO email address from Step 1 (note: can ignore the security question as it autodeposits) and that the amount does not exceed the daily limits and click “Confirm your Interac Details” then “Confirm Send”.
At this point your Metamask wallet will automatically pop open and ask you to confirm or “sign” the transaction. Hit Confirm then wait a few seconds for the transaction confirmation to appear
Blockchain #2: For Solana
If your QCAD is in Solana there is a form that is linked to the Grapes platform that will ask you for all the details required (including a link to the Grapes KYC process) and give you an address to send your QCAD too which will then trigger the e-transfer flow to KOHO.
Receiving Funds in Koho
Now that the transaction is sent, it will immediately (under 2 minutes) show up in your QCAD KOHO Mastercard account! It will show up as an E-transfer from Remit Payment. If your transaction does not show up in 15 minutes, it is likely a limit issue, simply contact the Grapes support and we will help make sure it gets there!
The easiest way to spend right from here is to connect your KOHO mastercard to your Apple or Google Pay on your phone. To do this simply click the little eye Icon beside the KOHO logo to see the Card number and the CVV and enter it into your Apple or Google Pay and start tapping!
That’s it! In exhaustive detail! We understand that there’s still a few moving parts to this, but this is how we start truly competing with traditional finance and taking back control of our fund movements! It looks like a lot, but the whole flow can be done in under 10 minutes, especially once the accounts and wallets are all set up. Remember there is no more “settlement time” for bank transactions, this can happen 24/7 instantly. That’s the power of blockchain!
We will be working exhaustively on eliminating steps, smoothing UX and hammering out costs throughout this entire flow. As mentioned, we’ve already started to roll out some API based solutions that abstracts a lot of this complexity away!
Key next features coming:
- Direct Phantom integration to Grapes
- Bill Pay functionality direct from Grapes (ability to pay Tuition, Taxes, and other bills without needing a bank account)
- Ability to fund and view KOHO card balances right from within Grapes
- Ability to execute DEX trades right from Grapes
- Ability to purchase SOL and ETH for fees right on Grapes
