Beaver Bitcoin Vs Shakepay: Which Is Better For Canadians In 2026?

How Do Beaver Bitcoin And Shakepay Compare, Fact By Fact?

Every row below comes from each company’s own pages and the Canadian registries, checked October 2026. Where a row has no fair winner, it says so.

What Are The Key Differences Between Beaver Bitcoin And Shakepay?

How Do You Fund And Cash Out Beaver Bitcoin And Shakepay In Canada?

Neither accepts: cash, credit card, paypal.

Your bank's own Interac and wire limits also apply. Spending limits per account were not published beyond the tier caps. Shakepay joined Interac e-Transfer as a Participant in July 2026, so e-Transfer now runs on its own connection. Bank-side sending limits and name matching still apply. Weekend timing: Not published.

What Does It Actually Cost To Buy On Beaver Bitcoin And Shakepay?

Beaver Bitcoin: Flat 1.5% on Bitcoin purchases, network fee paid by Beaver (beaverbitcoin.com, 2026-10-03). Sell fee Not published. Shakepay: Published target band of 0.5% to 2.0% over the benchmark price, which may widen by up to 1.5% in adverse conditions (help article checked 2026-10-03). Ranges reflect each platform’s published band, not a single quote. Bank and network fees are not included.

What Do Beaver Bitcoin And Shakepay Offer Beyond Buying And Selling?

Beaver Bitcoin Only

• Instant, Large and Recurring Buy: Instant Buy by e-Transfer up to CAD 20,000, Large Buy by bill payment or wire up to CAD 100,000, Recurring Buy by pre-authorized debit.
• Beaver Plaid: Personal service for purchases above CAD 100,000 by bill payment or wire.
• Sell Bitcoin: Sell BTC for CAD; terms are in the help centre.

Shakepay Only

• Shakepay Card (prepaid Visa): Issued by Peoples Trust Company, no annual fee, no credit check, free to get once fully verified. Cashback 1% at Base and Bright, 1.5% at Blue; foreign fee 3%, 1.5% or 0%. Limits $5,000 per transaction and day, $50,000 per month. Apple Pay and Google Pay supported.
• BLOC (bitcoin-backed line of credit): Borrow up to $50,000 against bitcoin through Shakepay Credit Inc. APR 11.5% Base, 10.5% Bright, 9.5% Blue. No fixed payments while LTV is 50% or lower. Terms and margin levels are shown in-app. Loan proceeds may not buy crypto. Margin notice 80%, liquidation 90% with a 3% fee and a CAD 100 minimum: Not verified on a primary page.
• Interest and USD: CAD interest 1.5% Base, 2% Bright, 3% Blue; savings 1.5%, 2% and 5% (Blue, first $100,000). The crypto page advertises 3.5% on USD. Rates are variable and not guaranteed.
• ShakingSats: Shake your phone once a day for sats. Cap by status: 10 sats a day at Base, up to 100 at Bright, up to 500 at Blue, growing with your streak.
• Referral: You and the friend each get $20 when the friend invests $100 in crypto within 30 days.

What Happens To Your Money If Beaver Bitcoin Or Shakepay Fails?

Beaver Bitcoin: Beaver is a FINTRAC-registered money services business, which covers anti-money-laundering reporting, not investor protection: it is not on the CSA list and CIPF does not apply. Because it holds no customer bitcoin, a hack or failure of Beaver would mostly hit money in transit or a pending order, not your stored coins. The residual risks are a failed or delayed purchase, an unpublished sell process, and the shorter operating history since 2022. Its FINTRAC number changed in 2026 after the old registration expired.

Shakepay: CIPF covers the cash and USD you hold at Shakepay, advertised as up to $1 million, but crypto is explicitly not covered. Customer crypto is held in trust with Coinbase Custody (at least 80% cold) and Fireblocks and BitGo hot wallets, and Shakepay's own risk statement warns that insurance may be inadequate and points users to withdraw to a private wallet. A hack, a custodian failure or a freeze can still hit crypto balances. BLOC adds liquidation risk if bitcoin falls, and Shakepay Credit operates under time-limited exemptive relief that runs three years from April 9, 2026, not full registration.

How Are Beaver Bitcoin And Shakepay Treated For Tax In Canada?

Beaver Bitcoin: Buying bitcoin with CAD is not a disposition. Selling for CAD, or spending bitcoin, is a disposition you report to the CRA. Beaver publishes no tax export that we could verify, so keep your own records.

Shakepay: Selling crypto, swapping it (including auto-swap), spending it with the card or repaying with it are dispositions; card cashback in bitcoin is income when received and your cost base starts at that value. Shakepay emails two CSVs (crypto and cash) but issues no tax slips, so you need Koinly or similar.

Selling, swapping or spending crypto is a disposition for the CRA on any platform. This is not tax advice: see my guide to crypto taxes in Canada.

Which Should You Choose, Beaver Bitcoin Or Shakepay?

Choose Beaver Bitcoin If

• You want bitcoin delivered straight to your own wallet with no account balance
• You want a simple recurring buy by pre-authorized debit
• You accept a flat 1.5% fee and a FINTRAC-only registration

Choose Shakepay If

• You want the simplest Interac-funded way to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum from a CIRO-registered firm.
• You want a bitcoin cashback card or a bitcoin-backed credit line in the same app.
• You will keep the account active each month to reach Bright or Blue and lower the card and loan costs.
• You do not need many coins, limit orders or Lightning.

This is a comparison of two very different ways to buy. Beaver Bitcoin is a Canadian, Bitcoin-only service that delivers every purchase to your own wallet. Shakepay is a Montreal dealer for buying Bitcoin and Ethereum with Interac. The cards above give you the verdict, so below is the detail behind it, with every figure taken from each platform's own pages or the Canadian regulators' lists. Where I could not verify a number, I say so instead of guessing.

How Do Beaver Bitcoin And Shakepay Compare On Fees?

Beaver Bitcoin. Beaver charges a 1.5% fee on Bitcoin purchases and pays the Bitcoin network fee for the delivery on top of that. When we tested it with a $100 purchase, we received exactly $98.50 worth of BTC, which is exactly what the quote promised. There is no staking, no trading screen and no ladder of tiers to learn, which keeps the cost easy to predict.

Shakepay. Shakepay is commission-free and earns through a spread. Its terms say it targets a spread of 0.5% to 2.0% over a benchmark price, and in adverse market conditions that can rise by up to 1.5% more. That is a wide range, so a small test buy tells you more than the schedule does.

Which Is Better For Funding And Withdrawing CAD?

Beaver Bitcoin. You can fund a purchase by Interac e-Transfer, wire transfer or bill payment. Beaver says e-Transfer deliveries land in minutes and a wire sent in the morning can settle the same day, but it does not publish a fee or a dollar limit for any of the three, so I will not quote one. The service is built for buying, so check how selling or cashing out works before you rely on it.

Shakepay. Interac e-Transfer deposits and withdrawals are free, from CAD 5 up to CAD 10,000, and arrive in minutes. Wire transfers are free from CAD 10,000 with no maximum, taking one to two working days, though some banks charge their own fee. Bitcoin withdrawals at normal speed (about 12 hours) are free because Shakepay covers the network fee.

Which Has More Coins?

Beaver Bitcoin. One coin: Bitcoin. That is the whole product, and for a lot of Canadians it is exactly the point. Beaver offers Instant Buy, Large Buy and Recurring Buy options, all of which deliver Bitcoin to a wallet address that you provide.

Shakepay. Three assets: Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDC, where USDC converts automatically to USD. That is a narrow menu, and it is deliberate. There is no crypto staking, though Shakepay advertises 3.5% on USD balances as an interest product.

Which Is Safer?

Beaver Bitcoin. Beaver is operated by Dam Good Money Corp. and is registered with FINTRAC as a money services business (registration N300000998, registered July 13, 2026, expiry November 30, 2028). It is not on the CSA list of authorized platforms and does not operate under a CSA decision, so it is not a CSA-registered dealer. The model matters more than the label here: you must supply a wallet address, so Beaver never holds your coins and there is no exchange balance to freeze or lose. The trade-off lands on you. Set up a good wallet first and back up your seed phrase properly.

Shakepay. Shakepay Inc. was admitted to CIRO as an investment dealer member on January 8, 2025, the same day as its CSA decision, and it is registered with the AMF and the provincial regulators. As a dealer member it can protect USD funds up to $1M through CIPF, but crypto is not covered. Its FINTRAC registration (M17065696) runs to October 30, 2027.

Neither platform is a place to park a large balance for years. As always, we recommend moving long-term holdings to your own crypto wallet.

Which App Is Easier To Use?

Beaver Bitcoin. There is no trading interface to learn. You enter an amount, give a wallet address, pay, and the Bitcoin arrives. I could not verify an app-store rating for Beaver, so I will not quote one. The one hurdle is that you need a Bitcoin wallet before your first purchase, which is a real step for a total beginner.

Shakepay. The Shakepay app is rated 4.62 on Apple's Canadian store across 24,349 ratings and 4.1 on Google Play (13.5K reviews, store-wide totals). When we tested it, we received a reply in under 24 hours, and customer reviews consistently rank Shakepay's support among the friendliest in Canadian crypto.

What Are The Pros And Cons Of Beaver Bitcoin And Shakepay?

Beaver Bitcoin: Pros And Cons

Shakepay: Pros And Cons

Who Should Choose Beaver Bitcoin, And Who Should Choose Shakepay?

Pick Beaver Bitcoin if you only want Bitcoin, you already have a wallet or are happy to set one up, and you prefer one flat fee over a spread you have to estimate.

Pick Shakepay if you want the fastest route from Interac to Bitcoin or Ethereum, you do not need other coins, and you value a friendly support desk.

So Which One Should You Pick?

On the verified numbers, Beaver Bitcoin fits best for this job: bitcoin only, sent straight to your own wallet. Shakepay fits best for this one: the simplest way to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum with Interac. If those two jobs overlap for you, start with a small first purchase on the one that suits your wallet, bank and comfort level, check what actually arrives, and only then scale up. The cheapest headline fee is not always the cheapest purchase once spread, withdrawal costs and limits are counted.

Visit Shakepay

Not sure either fits? My ranking of the best crypto exchanges in Canada and the exchange quiz sort the field by what you actually need.