Shakepay Review

Shakepay is a Montreal-based crypto app founded in 2015 by Jean Amiouny and Roy Breidi. It serves more than one million Canadians and focuses on doing one thing simply: letting people buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum in Canadian dollars. For a country where many global exchanges have pulled back or never offered smooth bank integration, Shakepay's all-Canadian focus is its main selling point — and its narrow scope is the main trade-off.

What it is and how it works

Shakepay is a mobile-first app (with a web version) where you fund an account in Canadian dollars, buy Bitcoin or Ethereum, and cash back out to your bank. Deposits and withdrawals by Interac e-Transfer are free, with limits of $5 to $10,000 per transfer, and they typically arrive quickly. Larger amounts can move by wire transfer.

The asset list is deliberately tiny: Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are the only cryptocurrencies you can trade. Shakepay also supports US dollar balances, and incoming USDC — a stablecoin, meaning a token designed to hold a steady one-dollar value — is automatically converted to US dollars rather than held as USDC. You can send and receive crypto to and from external wallets, which not every beginner app allows.

Fees: no commission, but mind the spread

Shakepay advertises commission-free trading, which is true but incomplete. It earns money through the spread — a markup built into the buy and sell prices you see, rather than a separate fee line. Shakepay says it targets a spread of 0.5% to 2.0% over its benchmark price depending on market conditions and liquidity, and notes the spread can widen by an additional 1.5% during adverse markets. That is competitive with other simple buy-and-hold apps, but an active trader on an order-book exchange like Kraken can often pay well under 0.5% in explicit fees. The honest framing: Shakepay trades fee transparency for simplicity.

ShakingSats and the Shakepay Card

Two perks set the app apart. ShakingSats lets you physically shake your phone once a day to earn a small amount of free satoshis — the smallest unit of Bitcoin, with 100 million satoshis per coin. Rewards start at 21 sats per day and grow with your consecutive-day streak, reaching 1,000 sats daily after 1,000 days, though you must stay active on the platform to keep earning. It is a gimmick, but a harmless one that suits the app's habit-building pitch.

The Shakepay Card is a prepaid Visa that pays cashback in Bitcoin on eligible purchases, with no annual fee. Base rewards are around 1%, rising to 1.5% or more at higher reward statuses tied to your account activity, with occasional promotional boosts.

Security and regulation

Shakepay keeps at least 80% — and typically over 90% — of customer crypto in cold storage, meaning private keys kept on devices never connected to the internet, with Coinbase Custody Trust Company, a regulated US custodian. Those cold-stored assets are covered by insurance against theft and loss of keys. On the regulatory side, Shakepay is registered with FINTRAC as a money services business and, in January 2025, became a member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) as an investment dealer — the first Quebec-based crypto platform to do so, after previously operating as a restricted dealer across all provinces and territories.

Limitations worth knowing

The two-coin menu is the obvious one. There are no altcoins, no staking, no limit orders, and no advanced charts. The spread is also less transparent than an explicit fee schedule, and cost-conscious buyers moving large amounts will likely do better elsewhere.

Pros

• Free, fast Interac e-Transfer deposits and withdrawals in CAD
• Strong regulatory standing in Canada (FINTRAC, CIRO investment dealer)
• Majority of crypto in insured cold storage with a regulated custodian
• Simple, beginner-friendly app with Bitcoin-rewards Visa card

Cons

• Only Bitcoin and Ethereum available to trade
• Spread-based pricing can cost more than explicit-fee exchanges
• No advanced trading tools or order types

Verdict

Shakepay is one of the easiest and most credible ways for a Canadian beginner to start a simple Bitcoin or Ethereum dollar-cost averaging plan — buying a fixed amount on a regular schedule regardless of price. Experienced traders and altcoin hunters should look elsewhere, but within its narrow lane it executes very well: 4/5.

This review is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice.

Sources

• Shakepay — Funding fees, limits and timeline
• Shakepay Help Center — How does Shakepay make money?
• Shakepay Help Center — Cold storage insurance policy
• CIRO — Shakepay Inc. membership