Bitbuy vs Coinbase: Which One Should You Use?

In this article we’re going to compare two crypto companies you can use to buy and hold your crypto in Canada: Bitbuy and Coinbase.

We’ll cover the pros and cons of each and by the end of the article you’ll be able to decide which one you want to use to buy and sell any of the most popular cryptocurrencies.

When comparing Bitbuy with Coinbase, it’s important to know what you want to use the crypto service for. Some questions to ask yourself are:

1. What methods can I use to fund my account at Bitbuy and Coinbase?
   
   For example: Credit Card, Debit Card, Wire Transfer, Interac E-Transfer, PayPal, etc.)
   
2. What are my options for withdrawing crypto from each service?
   
   What withdrawal method do I want to use? Specifically, am I able to withdraw the money to my bank account or I have to withdraw it to something like PayPal?
   
3. What are the fees for each type of transaction for each service?
   
   You want to make sure you won’t lose too much in fees when you buy crypto, withdraw crypto or exchange crypto.
   
4. What types of crypto can I buy on Bitbuy and Coinbase?
   
   If you’re looking to buy a type for Crypto other than the Big Two (Bitcoin and Etheruem) you should check that Bitbuy or Coinbase has the coin / currency you want to buy.

With that out of the way, let’s look at the differences between the two companies in depth.

Bitbuy vs Coinbase: Which One Is Better For Canadians and Why?

Using Bitbuy In Canada

Bitbuy is a Canadian company based in Toronto.

On Bitbuy you can buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a long list of other currencies and tokens. What makes Bitbuy unique in Canada is that you can fund your account with Interac E-Transfer. It only takes a few minutes and your e-transfer will hit your Bitbuy account. Additionally, you can receive crypto to a wallet address as well as send crypto to another wallet address if you want to move your holdings out of Bitbuy at any point. Coinbase also gives you a wallet address, but it doesn’t have Interac E-Transfer as a funding option.

This makes Bitbuy our favourite crypto choice for Canadians. If you want to withdraw your crypto into CAD, you can also convert any cryptocurrency into Canadian dollars in Bitbuy and then receive an Interac e-transfer to your bank account.

Who founded Bitbuy?

Bitbuy was founded by Adam Goldman in Toronto, Canada in 2016. The company existed previous to 2016 but rebranded and improved the user experience to launch as Bitbuy in 2016.

The co-founders of Bitbuy sold the company in 2017 to an investment group.

In January, 2022 Bitbuy was acquired by the Vancouver Crypto company, WonderFi. WonderFi is backed by the Shark Tank Investor Kevin O’Leary. The purchase price is reported to be $206 million CAD. WonderFI is a defi focused crypto company and now they own the Bitbuy exchange.

WonderFi bought First Ledger Corp which is the investment firm that previously bought Bitbuy.

Is Bitbuy Safe and Reliable?

Bitbuy has over 375,000 users and there has been over $4.4B transacted through the platform. It is also now owned by the company WonderFi with the notable investor Kevin O’Leary.

Bitbuy is also a registered Money Service Business (MSB) by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC). Additionally, Bitbuy has a 95% cold storage policy meaning that they keep 95% of all the assets they hold in offline storage which makes it much more difficult to hack. Bitbuy uses a company called BitGo to insure your crypto as well. in the case that the cold-storage environment gets hacked your assets are covered.

Using Coinbase In Canada

Coinbase is a well known crypto company founded in San Francisco, USA. It’s known to be very trustworthy and reliable as a way to buy and sell crypto. In Canada you can fund your Coinbase account using a debit card. In the past you could also buy bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency using a credit card, but in a past couple of years Canadian credit card companies block crypto purchases so you need to use a debit card now.

So if you have a Canadian debit card you can fund your Coinbase account fairly easily!

However, if you want to withdraw money from Coinbase in Canada, the only way to do this currently is to a PayPal account. If you have a PayPal account and can then transfer the money from your PayPal to your bank account, Coinbase might actually be a good fit for you! However, it’s definitely a limiting factor if you don’t have a PayPal account, because you won’t be able to withdraw Canadian Dollars from your Coinbase account in that case.

If you don’t have a PayPal account, BitBuy is probably the better option for you.

Overall, Coinbase is a solid choice to buy crypto with a Canadian debit card and to withdraw to a Canadian PayPal account.

Coinbase also has a learning library where you can earn free cryptocurrency in exchange for watching videos and completing short quizzes about new crypto currencies. You get paid in free cryptocurrency in exchange for learning which is pretty cool.

Conclusion and Final Verdict – Winner: BitBuy!

Both Bitbuy and Coinbase are reputable crypto companies and both are great options to use as a Canadian. Really the main difference is that Bitbuy allows Interac E-Transfer to fund your account, or to cash out / convert your crypto to Canadian dollars.

Coinbase currently only allows Canadians to fund their accounts with a debit card, and when you want to withdraw money you’d have to cash out to a PayPal account. This is more inconvenient than should be the case in our opinion, unfortunately.

If you’re OK with this and just want to hold crypto, Coinbase could be a good option. They have a great learning library with videos and quizzes that teach you about different cryptocurrencies and also give you free rewards!

All things considered, while we love Coinbase for our friends across the border in the United States, our suggestion is to use BitBuy as a Canadian since you can fund your account via e-Transfer and withdraw money to your bank account directly.

Fun fact: Coinbase USA was an inspiration for Bitbuy’s smooth product experience!

Next Actions To Take

Sign Up For BitBuy In Canada

1. Go to the Bitbuy Canada website and sign up for an account
2. Deposit $250 CAD and you’ll get a free bonus of $40 CAD

You can fund your account with Interac E-Transfer (easiest) or wire transfer (good for very large amounts).

Sign Up For Coinbase In Canada

1. Go to the Coinbase Canada Website
2. Deposit $125 CAD into your account and get a free bonus of $12.50 CAD

You can fund your Coinbase account with Canadian debit cards.