Shakepay is a Canada-based Exchange platform for buying, selling, and storing Bitcoin and Ethereum via a smartphone or desktop computer.
While the platform does not allow customers to hold their own cryptocurrency private keys when funds are stored in the Shakepay app, the company makes it easy for customers to move their funds to their own personal crypto wallets. Shakepay also has an additional feature, Shakepay Change, which allows users to seamlessly purchase a small amount of Bitcoin every time they make a purchase with their debit or credit card.
Shakepay Overview
Shakepay
- One of the most user-friendly exchanges
- Licensed as an official Money Service Business in Canada
- Incredibly fast with purchases taking minutes rather than hours
- All assets on Shakepay are stored offline
Shakepay General Overview
Pros
- Shakepay is one of the most friendly options when buying and selling Bitcoin in Canada
- Interac e-Transfer system enables free transfers to and from Shakepay in minutes
- Shakepay Change allows you to earn cryptocurrency by rounding up purchases with a debit card
- It is free for customers to move their Bitcoin into a non-custodial wallet
- Shakepay OTC is available to those who wish to purchase more than $200,000 CAD worth of cryptocurrency
Cons
- Shakepay is currently only available to Canadians
- Although Shakepay claims they do not charge any fees on buy and sell orders, the reality is fees are hidden in the quoted rates for Bitcoin and Ethereum
- Cryptocurrency held in the Shakepay app is held by Shakepay rather than the individual user
Shakepay Sign-up Process
The sign-up process at Shakepay is similar to many of the other cryptocurrency exchanges around the world. During the initial sign-up process, the following information is required:
- Username
- Password
After signing up at Shakepay, you will need to verify your email address.
After your email is confirmed, you will be required to enter your mobile phone number. Your phone number will be used for authentication purposes when logging in.
After submitting your phone number to Shakepay, you will be required to complete 2-step verification by entering the code that was sent to your phone.
Once this initial information is provided, Shakepay will also need to collect some personal information to help verify your identity. This includes:
- Name
- Address
- Date of Birth
This information will be checked against Securefact’s database. While most users will be able to trade shortly after this information is provided, some users may face additional verification checks. In these situations, the user must provide two forms of documentation, in addition to a selfie.
What You Can Buy
Shakepay is currently focused on providing buy and sell functionality for the two most popular cryptocurrencies in the world.
Supported Applications
Shakepay is available on both desktop computers and smartphone devices. Desktop users of any operating system can access the exchange via their web browsers, while the Shakepay app is also available on the Google Play and iOS app stores.
Is Shakepay Safe?
Shakepay is a relatively new addition to the cryptocurrency exchange world but has been exceptionally safe thus far. One thing that Shakepay has going for it that other exchanges don’t is that there is actual regulatory oversight regarding the business. Is it is licensed as a Money Service Business by FINTRAC and AMF, which are both financial regulatory bodies in Canada.
There are very few exchanges that have any sort of government oversight so Shakepay should be considered one of the safest exchanges currently in operation. Shakepay is also renowned for having exceptional customer service in case you ever run into issues with the software. In summary: Shakepay is exceptionally safe.
Shakepay Fees
Shakepay does not charge any direct fees to their customers for buy orders, sell orders, deposits, or withdrawals. Therefore Shakepay transaction fees are basically non-existent.
However, Shakepay makes money on the spread between the buy and sell orders made through the platform. This leads to an effective fee rate of 1.75% per trade, sometimes referred to as a spread fee. Additionally, users who wish to make deposits or withdrawals via wire transfers may be charged additional fees by their respective banks.
