CoinSmart Vs Kraken: Which Is Better For Canadians In 2026?

How Do CoinSmart And Kraken 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 CoinSmart And Kraken?

How Do You Fund And Cash Out CoinSmart And Kraken In Canada?

All funding ended. Accounts moved to Bitbuy. Fund by Interac for free, trade on Kraken Pro, and expect to pay CAD 10 to take Canadian dollars back out by e-Transfer. Wire deposits can lose a 13.74 intermediary fee. Kraken has been reported to delay new account checks at busy times.

What Does It Actually Cost To Buy On Kraken?

Kraken: Kraken Pro base tier 0.40% maker / 0.80% taker (Tier 1, USD 0 volume), checked 2026-10-03. The high end is the 1% Instant Buy fee, which is charged on top of a spread Kraken does not publish. Custom orders are 1.5%. Ranges reflect each platform’s published band, not a single quote. Bank and network fees are not included.

What Do CoinSmart And Kraken Offer Beyond Buying And Selling?

Kraken Only

• Kraken Pro: Order book trading with maker/taker fees from 0.40% / 0.80%, down to 0.0% / 0.10% at USD 10M monthly volume. Tiers can also be reached by holding assets on the platform (USD 20K for Tier 3).
• Staking: Flexible staking with an on-chain unbonding period carries a 20% commission. Canadians cannot stake GRT or FLR, use Opt-In Rewards, or use Babylon Bitcoin staking, and ETH2.S cannot be traded.
• Kraken+: Subscription giving zero trading fees on up to USD 10,000 (or CAD equivalent) a month in Buy, Sell and Convert, with spreads and card fees still applying. The subscription price was not retrieved.
• Recurring buys: Recurring trades are charged the 1% Instant Buy fee plus a spread.

What Happens To Your Money If CoinSmart Or Kraken Fails?

CoinSmart: This was a merger, not a collapse. CoinSmart's accounts went to Bitbuy, which has since moved to Coinsquare Capital Markets Ltd. and then Robinhood. Log in through Bitbuy with your old CoinSmart email, and never send crypto to an old CoinSmart deposit address, because the addresses changed. If you prefer not to follow the move to Robinhood, withdraw to your own wallet.

Kraken: Kraken is a CSA Restricted Dealer, which brings regulator oversight, loss notifications and purchase caps, but its client assets are not covered by CIPF and Kraken says so. Kraken publishes third-party proof of reserves (June 2026 ratios 100.3% to 102.9% for the five largest assets), which shows assets were held at the snapshot but is not insurance, and no insurance amount is published. Residual risks are exchange hacks, an insolvency where you are an unsecured creditor, and restrictions that can force you to withdraw coins Kraken later removes for Canada.

How Are CoinSmart And Kraken Treated For Tax In Canada?

CoinSmart: Trades on CoinSmart were dispositions for CRA purposes. Pull your CoinSmart history from your migrated Bitbuy account. Export formats: Not published.

Kraken: Selling, converting one coin to another and staking rewards are taxable events. Kraken exports ledger and trade history as CSV and links to Koinly, which can produce a CRA Schedule 3 report; Kraken does not produce a CRA-ready report itself.

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, CoinSmart Or Kraken?

Choose CoinSmart If

• You want a registered platform that serves Canadians today: Coinbase is our number one replacement, with free Interac e-Transfer funding and a Canadian restricted dealer registration.

Choose Kraken If

• You want the widest coin list available to Canadians and a real order book.
• You will use Kraken Pro rather than Instant Buy to keep trading costs near 0.4% to 0.8%.
• You value published proof of reserves over a CIRO dealer.

What Happened To CoinSmart?

CoinSmart, run by Simply Digital Technologies Inc., stopped operating as a separate exchange after WonderFi moved its client accounts to Bitbuy. WonderFi announced the deal on September 8, 2023, and I could not verify the exact completion date. Its two CSA decisions, the original of October 21, 2021 and an amended one of December 21, 2021, now sit under the CSA's expired decisions.

FINTRAC lists the CoinSmart registration as ceased on September 10, 2024. Today coinsmart.com serves the Bitbuy site with a banner saying Bitbuy is now part of Robinhood. That chain matters: CoinSmart accounts went to Bitbuy, Bitbuy later moved under Coinsquare Capital Markets Ltd., and Robinhood closed its WonderFi purchase on June 1, 2026.

So CoinSmart did not collapse. It was folded into a larger group, and the group is now being folded into Robinhood. Bitbuy has a help article for migrated CoinSmart accounts if you ever need to trace one.

For more detail, see my CoinSmart page. I do not link to CoinSmart for sign-ups, because it is not an option for Canadians.

What Should CoinSmart Users Use Instead?

The short answer is Kraken, the other half of this match-up. It is available to Canadians, and it is beginners who want room to grow into cheaper Pro trading and a deep altcoin list. If you want the closest like-for-like match to CoinSmart, my notes name NDAX.

How Much Does Kraken Cost, And How Do You Fund It?

Since CoinSmart cannot be compared on current fees, here is what Kraken charges today, taken from its own published pages.

Is Kraken Safe For Canadians?

Payward Canada Inc. is a Restricted Dealer registered with the OSC and every provincial regulator. Its CSA decision is dated April 1, 2025, and it holds a FINTRAC registration. It is not a CIRO member.

Kraken's June 30, 2026 proof-of-reserves snapshot shows reserve ratios of 102.9% for BTC, 100.5% for ETH, 100.6% for SOL and 102.3% for XRP. Canadian clients face a CAD 30,000 rolling 12-month net purchase limit on most assets other than BTC, ETH, LTC and BCH, with exceptions for some provinces.

The app rates 4.62 on the Canadian Apple App Store from 5,662 ratings, and 4.2 on Google Play from 55.1K reviews.

Whichever platform you use, I still say the same thing: do not keep more on an exchange than you are prepared to lose, and move long-term holdings to your own wallet.

Who Should Choose Kraken?

Kraken suits beginners who want room to grow into cheaper Pro trading and a deep altcoin list. It is a weaker fit if you need something its list or fee structure does not cover: instant Buy costs 1% plus spread, and cAD 10 Interac withdrawal fee.

Not sure which platform fits you? Take my 60-second quiz or see my full ranking.

What Should You Do If You Still Have Something With CoinSmart?

CoinSmart: If you held a CoinSmart account, it was migrated to Bitbuy, and Bitbuy's help centre has an article on what to do with a migrated account. Bitbuy itself is now part of Robinhood and is inviting customers to the Robinhood app, so check what you hold there and decide whether you want to stay. Whatever you decide, do not send crypto to an old CoinSmart deposit address.

A simple rule applies after any platform change: keep your own records of every purchase, because the CRA treats crypto as a commodity and you need the history for your tax return.