Are you wondering if CoinSmart is perfect for you? This CoinSmart review is for you.
With the volatility in the price of Bitcoin and other crypto coins, choosing the best crypto exchange is one of the smart moves you can take to survive the highly volatile crypto market and one that is within your control.
But with so many crypto exchanges out there, finding the best platform for your needs can be tough. Even though CoinSmart is one of the best Canadian crypto exchanges, it may not be suitable for all traders.
This CoinSmart review covers everything that the exchange entails to help you easily determine if it’s perfect for you.
Overview of CoinSmart
Before we go into the detailed review of CoinSmart, let’s have a quick overview of the exchange’s key features.
| Launched in | 2018 |
| Number of coins | 16 |
| Minimum investment | $100 |
| Funding options | e-Transfer, Wire transfer, SEPA, Credit/debit card, Bank account & Crypto |
| Trading platform | Web portal and mobile app |
| Deposit fees | No fee for Wire and SEPA deposits. No fee for $2,000+ Interac e-Transfer deposits. 1.5% fee for Interac e-Transfer deposit below $2,000. Up to 6.75% fee for credit card deposit |
| Withdrawal fees | No fee for SEPA withdrawals, a 1% or $15 fee for EFT withdrawals and a 1% fee for wire transfers. Crypto withdrawal fees vary. |
| Trading fees | 0.20% to 0.30% |
| Welcome bonus | C$20 |
| Regulator | FINTRAC & OSC |
What is CoinSmart?
CoinSmart is a FINTRAC and OSC-regulated crypto exchange based in Toronto. The exchange was founded in 2018 and has since then distinguished itself from the competition on various grounds.
As a publicly-traded company on the NEO Exchange, the exchange operates across over 40 countries including Canada, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Finland, Italy and more.
Consequently, the exchange supports transactions with 10+ currencies including CAD, USD, EURO, GBP and more.
With instant account approval and multiple funding options, CoinSmart allows you to trade 16 crypto trading with a minimum of $100.
Overall, CoinSmart is worth checking out considering its competitive welcome bonus, multiple funding options, multiple fiat currencies, and other unique features.
How Does CoinSmart Work?
As a crypto exchange, CoinSmart allows you to buy and sell 16 different crypto coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Cardano, USD Coin etc.
Unlike other crypto exchanges in Canada, CoinSmart allows you to exchange crypto coins with CAD, USD, EURO and other supported fiat currencies.
With the exception of wire and SEPA deposits, CoinSmart charges fees for other deposit methods in addition to withdrawal and trading fees.
Through its SmartGuarantee, CoinSmart ensures that your account is verified instantly or on the same day of application and that all deposits are credited to your account on the same day.
CoinSmart Key Features
The following are some of the key features of CoinSmart that are worth considering:
- SmartTrade: This saves you the stress of only trading against the popular coins like bitcoin and Ether. Simply trade your favourite altcoins with a single click against other coins.
- Advanced Trading Tools: If you’re a seasoned trader, CoinSmart got you covered with real-time charting, limit orders and stop loss. The exchange also offers access to tight spreads and more professional tools through its CoinSmart OTC desk.
- Smartpay Invoicing and Auto-Sell: This lets you accept fast crypto payments from your customers. With the SmartPay Auto-Sell feature, your crypto payments can be sold and transferred to your account as fiat currency at a low fee and low rate. However, you can choose to leave the payments in your CoinSmart account or crypto wallet.
With the above unique features, CoinSmart has distinguished itself from the competition.
CoinSmart Supported Coins
As mentioned earlier, CoinSmart currently supports 16 crypto coins highlighted below:
| Bitcoin (BTC) | Dogecoin (DOGE) |
| Bitcoin Cash (BCH) | Polkadot (DOT) |
| Ethereum (ETH) | Solana (SOL) |
| Litecoin (LTC) | Polygon (MATIC) |
| Stellar (XLM) | Shiba Inu (SHIB) |
| EOS | Uniswap (UNI) |
| USD Coin (USDC) | Chainlink (LINK) |
| Cardano (ADA) | Avalanche (AVAX) |
While CoinSmart has limited supported coins at the moment, it supports some of the largest and most popular digital coins.
CoinSmart Funding Options
CoinSmart has multiple funding options compared to other domestic and foreign crypto exchanges in Canada. The following are the currently supported funding options of the platform depending on your location:
- e-Transfer
- Wire transfer
- SEPA
- Credit/debit card
- Bank account
- Crypto
Based on the sending and receiving bank times, it may take between 1 to 5 business days for CoinSmart to process fiat withdrawals.
CoinSmart Trade Limits
CoinSmart has varying trading amounts for its supported coins. The following table highlights the minimum amount per coin you can trade.
| Crypto | Limit |
|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | 0.001 |
| Bitcoin Cash (BCH) | 0.01 |
| Ethereum (ETH) | 0.01 |
| Stellar (XLM) | 94 |
| Cardano (ADA) | 5 |
| Litecoin (LTC) | 0.1 |
| EOS | 2 |
| Dogecoin (DOGE) | 10 |
| USDC | 10 |
| Polkadot (DOT) | 0.5 |
| Uniswap (UNI) | 0.1 |
| Chainlink (LINK) | 0.1 |
| Polygon (MATIC) | 1 |
| Shiba Inu (SHIB) | 200,000 |
| Avalanche (AVAX) | 0.1 |
| Solana (SOL) | 0.1 |
That said, you can trade the above coins for a maximum of 7 digits (in Canadian dollars). If you want to trade more than C$25,000, CoinSmart has a tailored solution known as CoinSmart Premium.
CoinSmart Fees
Below are the current fee schedule of CoinSmart as of the time of writing:
- Deposit fees: No fee for Wire and SEPA deposits. No fee for $2,000+ Interac e-Transfer deposits. 1.5% fee for Interac e-Transfer deposit below $2,000. And up to 6% fee for credit card deposits.
- Withdrawal fees: No fee for SEPA withdrawals, 1% or $15 fee for EFT withdrawals and 1% fee for wire transfers. Crypto withdrawal fees vary.
- Trading fees: Single trade = 0.20% while double trade = 0.30%
Compared to other crypto exchanges out there, CoinSmart is relatively costly especially on the Canada side.
CoinSmart Promotions
When you sign up on CoinSmart with this link, you will get C$20 upon making your initial C$100 deposit. This is currently one of the most competitive welcome bonuses in Canada.
It doesn’t end there. CoinSmart also rewards you with C$15 for every person who sign-up to the exchange with your referral link after they make their initial deposit. In turn, your referral will also get the C$15 bonus.
That said, the CoinSmart referral program is in hierarchical based on the number of people you refer to the exchange as shown below.
- Advocate: 0-5 referrals
- Promoter : 6-10 referrals
- Ambassador: 11-20 referrals
- Partner: 20+ referrals
Learn more about the promotion in this CoinSmart Referral post or check out all the best crypto promotions in Canada here.
CoinSmart Pros and Cons
Based on the CoinSmart review we’ve covered so far, we can easily identify the following pros and cons of CoinSmart:
Pros
- Instant account approval
- Multiple funding options and fiat currencies
- Advanced trading tools
- A seamless crypto payment solutions
- High welcome bonus
- Beginner-friendly
- Educational resources
- Up to C$4,000 of Bitcoin through a quiz
- 24/7 customer support via email, phone call, or live chat
Cons
- High fees
- Relatively high minimum investment requirement
- Limited coins
How to Open a CoinSmart Account
You can create a CoinSmart account and get verified within a few minutes. Below are the steps for opening a CoinSmart account:
- Visit the application page here
- Enter your email address
- Confirm your email address
- Activate your email
- Login to your CoinSmart account to complete the application
Once you meet the requirements, your account will be approved instantly or on the same day. If CoinSmart couldn’t automatically approve your account, you may be required to provide additional information and documents.
With the manual verification, it can take between 1hour to 1 business day to get your account approved.
Interestingly, the CoinSmart SmartGuarantee ensures that your funds reflect in your account the same day you make the deposit. This makes it possible to start trading on the exchange the same day your account is approved.
Is CoinSmart Legit and Safe?
Yes, CoinSmart is a legit and safe crypto platform. In Canada, it is regulated by two recognized bodies namely:
- Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC)
- Ontario Securities Commission (OSC)
With the use of cold wallet storage and its partnership with Bitgo and Fireblocks, CoinSmart ensures that your information and assets are highly secured.
CoinSmart Alternatives
Below, we’ll go over how CoinSmart compares to some of the other crypto brokers and exchanges in Canada:
CoinSmart vs Newton
Both CoinSmart and Newton are based in Toronto and they are among the leading crypto exchanges in Canada. The two exchanges were also founded in 2018 and are regulated by FINTRAC.
Beyond these similarities, CoinSmart differs considerably from Newton. CoinSmart outshines Newton in terms of funding options, supported fiat currencies and welcome bonus.
On the other hand, Newton doesn’t have a minimum investment requirement but CoinSmart requires a minimum deposit of $100.
With the exception of crypto withdrawals, Newton doesn’t charge any fees, unlike CoinSmart which charges fees for all the steps.
While CoinSmart supports a limited of 16 coins, Newton has one of the largest collections in Canada – currently 71 coins.
With this and many other factors, Newton outshines CoinSmart and could be your best CoinSmart alternative in Canada. Learn more about its offerings in this Newton Review.
CoinSmart vs Wealthsimple Crypto
Wealthsimple Crypto is another Toronto-based crypto exchange that is also regulated by FINTRAC & OSC.
Unlike in CoinSmart, there’s no minimum investment requirement, deposit fee, withdrawal fee and trading fee on Wealthsimple Crypto.
In addition, you can trade 50+ different crypto coins on Wealthsimple Crypto against the 16 available at CoinSmart.
While CoinSmart outshines Wealthsimple Crypto in terms of funding options and supported fiat currencies, Wealthsimple Crypto remains one of the best crypto platforms for beginners in Canada.
And as a new Wealthsimple Crypto user, you’ll get a $50 welcome bonus after you deposit at least $150. Learn more about the promotion in this Wealthsimple Crypto Referral Code Review.
Learn more: Wealthsimple Crypto Review
CoinSmart vs Shakepay
If you’re not okay with the above alternatives, Shakepay could meet your needs because it’s also among the top Canadian crypto exchanges.
Based in Montreal, Shakepay is ahead of CoinSmart in a few areas. Besides having a low minimum investment requirement of $5, the exchange doesn’t charge deposit, withdrawal or trading fees.
In addition, Shakepay has a crypto prepaid card that helps you maximize the value of your crypto coins by converting them to make everyday purchases. The card rewards you with 1% cash back in Bitcoin for every online or in-store purchase with the card.
However, you get more coin choice with CoinSmart and a better trading experience if you’re an intermediate to advanced crypto trader.
If you’re not concerned about the limited coins of Shakepay (it supports only Bitcoin and Ethereum), it could be your best CoinSmart alternative.
New Shakepay users get a $5 welcome bonus if they sign up with a Shakepay referral code and trade at least $100 in cryptocurrency.
Learn more: Shakepay Review
Some FAQs on CoinSmart Review
CoinSmart currently has 16 crypto coins ranging from Bitcoin and altcoins such as Ethereum, Dogecoin, Litecoin Cardano and Shiba Inu.
CoinSmart is a legitimate company because it is regulated by recognized bodies in Canada (FINTRAC and OSC). As a crypto exchange, CoinSmart offers legit services that compete significantly with some of the best crypto exchanges out there.
CoinSmart doesn’t have any insurance coverage on assets. However, the exchange has a SmartGuarantee that ensures that:
Your account verification is processed within the same day of your application
Your deposits reflect in your account the same day CoinSmart receives the transaction notification
Your cash withdrawals are processed within five business days
It depends on the withdrawal method you used. However, it takes 1 to 5 business days to process fiat withdrawals on CoinSmart.
Verdict on CoinSmart Review
My CoinSmart review is positive and the reasons are so obvious.
The exchange has positioned itself as one of the best crypto exchanges in Canada with multiple funding options and fiat currencies, advanced trading tools and more.
Despite all these, it’s essential you evaluate your needs before finalizing whether to go with CoinSmart or its alternative.
The bottom line of my review is that you can’t make the wrong choice with CoinSmart once it meets your needs because it competes considerably with several crypto exchanges in Canada.
If you’re impacted by this review, please share it and learn more from our other crypto-related content.
CoinSmart Review
Summary
CoinSmart is a FINTRAC and OSC-regulated crypto exchange based in Toronto.
