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CoinSmart vs Newton: What Works Better For Canadians?

Oleg Galeev

Last updated September 7, 2023

Coinsmart is probably the most popular crypto platform in Canada, while Newton is relatively new but rated as the #3 top crypto exchange in Canada for a few reasons. How do they fare for Canadians looking to buy crypto? The OCryptoCanada team did some extensive research to see how these two popular crypto exchanges compare. Check our Coinsmart vs Newton comparison.

CoinSmart is now part of WonderFi and the platform is not accepting new signups. If you're looking for the best crypto experience in Canada, we recommend signing up to Bitbuy, another licensed Canadian cryptocurrency trading platform operated by the same parent company, WonderFi. With Bitbuy, you will get access to an improved experience on web and mobile, staking rewards, Private Wealth services, and an advanced trading interface. Sign up using our referral link and get free $50 when depositing $250 on your account!

Description

CoinSmart is a Toronto-based Canadian crypto exchange that offers same-day deposits in CAD, EUR and USD. CoinSmart offers crypto trading for both beginners and advanced users.

Newton prides itself on being Canada’s first no-fee cryptocurrency exchange. They claim their exchange is 2-3x lower than most other exchanges.

Coins

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, EOS, USDC, Cardano, Dogecoin, Polkadot, Shiba Inu, Chainlink, Uniswap, Solana and more

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, Stellar, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, USDC, USDT, Chainlink, Aave, Uniswap, Polygon, Compound, SushiSwap, Curve, Synthetix, Dai, Polkadot

Fees

Interac deposit fee of 1% for deposits between $100 - $1999
Free Interac deposits for deposits of $2000+
Free wire and bank draft deposits
Withdrawal fees are 1%
Various crypto withdrawal fees
Trading fees are 0.20% for a single trade or 0.30% for a double trade
Up to 6% fee for credit/debit card purchases

0% CAD funding
0% CAD withdrawal
0% crypto deposit/withdrawals (up to $5 network fee waived)
No commissions or trading fees
0.40% to 0.72% spread

Pros

Low trading fees
Free deposits over $2000
Suitable for beginners
Advanced trading options
Interac e-Transfer available
$50 bonus
Trade crypto to crypto (no trading pairs needed)
Same-day verification
CAD, USD, EUR deposits

No fees at all
Wide selection of coins available
You can export a T5 statement
Sleek interface
Newton Pro for advanced traders in Beta stage

Cons

There is a 1% fee for Interac deposits less than $2000
1% withdrawal fee

Very high spreads
No live chat support
No credit card deposits. Debit must be pre-approved.

Account Limits

$100 min to $10,000 max for Interac deposits
$100 min to $5,000 max for credit/debit card buys
$10,000 bank wire min to $5M max

$10,000 max daily Interac e-Transfer deposit/withdrawal
$70,000 max weekly Interac e-Transfer deposit/withdrawal
$5,000 electronic funds transfer deposit
$50,000 electronic funds transfer withdrawal
$1M wire transfer deposit/withdrawal
$5M daily trading limit

App

Methods to buy

Credit/debit cards
Interac e-Transfer
Bank wire
SEPA (for EUR)

Interac e-Transfer
Wire transfer
Connect bank account

Security

CoinSmart is partnered with BitGo to keep customers’ crypto safe in cold storage. BitGo is insured by Lloyds of London for $100 million, so if something were to happen to CoinSmart, your funds might be insured.

CoinSmart offers two-factor authentication to help protect your account.

Daily exchange backups
Third-party custody of assets, mostly offline
Direct bank intergration to reduce fraud

Mobile and Desktop Trading

CoinSmart has a fun look with bright colours and cartoons. It is enjoyable to use. The dashboard shows everything you need to trade including options to buy, sell, and trade. You can also view your wallets, activity and simple market information.

To use CoinSmart’s advanced features such as limit orders, you can use their advanced trading platform, which is accessible within your user dashboard.

CoinSmart’s iOS app has a 3.4-star rating with 309 reviews. Its Android app has a 2.6-star rating from 94 reviews. Users of the app say the app crashes, is slow, and often freezes. This is why we would recommend using their desktop version.

Newton also has a user-friendly interface and a modern, clean look. It’s simple and easy to use. Its iOS app has a rating of 4.4 stars with 5.6k reviews, and its Android app has a rating of 2.8 stars with 800 reviews.

Coinsmart

To use CoinSmart’s advanced features such as limit orders, you can use their advanced trading platform, which is accessible within your user dashboard.

Coinsmart App

Coinsmart App trading screen

Coinsmart mobile app interface

Coinsmart mobile app interface while trading

Newton

Newton has a user-friendly interface and a modern, clean look. It’s simple and easy to use.

Newton’s overall design is clean and modern. They also usual casual and friendly language. It doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously, which is refreshing. At first glance, Newton seems user-friendly and fairly simple.

Its iOS app has a rating of 4.4 stars with 5.6k reviews, and its Android app has a rating of 2.8 stars with 800 reviews.

Newton desktop interface

Market order with Newton

Newton app interface

Newton app interface while trading

Security Compliance

Newton does daily backups to minimize risk and states on its website that customer data is stored in Canada. They also perform daily site backups, have offline third-party storage for digital assets, and they allow their customers to directly connect their bank account to reduce fraud.

CoinSmart offers two-factor authentication to help protect your account.

Newton does daily backups to minimize risk and states on its website that customer data is stored in Canada.

Regulatory Compliance

Coinsmart is fully compliant in Canada. Not only the exchange is registered with FINTRAC but they are also granted status by Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).

Newton is fully compliant with FINTRAC regulations in Canada.

CoinSmart and Newton are both fully regulated in Canada. The exchanges are registered with FINTRAC and are PIPEDA-compliant.

Customer support

CoinSmart states that it has a 97% customer satisfaction rate and this claim is backed up by the 70% excellent customer reviews on Trustpilot. CoinSmart offers 24/7 support via email and online ticketing.

Newton has FAQs and a knowledge center on the website. Customers can message the support teams either online via their support pages or through email. Newton does not have a phone and live support.

Conclusion

Both CoinSmart and Newton offer Canadians a fast, simple, and secure way to buy cryptocurrency in Canada. CoinSmart has a lot of fun features such as its learn and earn program, the ability to send crypto invoices, as well as the ability to trade altcoin to altcoin and low fees. Newton charges high spreads and you can lose way more in the long term. This is why we would recommend Coinsmart over Newton.

Author

Oleg Galeev

Cryptocurrency Specialist

Oleg is a Canadian citizen & crypto expert who has been trading since 2016. He started out with Coinbase, Kraken and Peer-to-Peer exchanges. After some time, centralized exchanges started charging crazy fees to their users.

He decided to review different crypto exchanges that operate in Canada and start a Youtube channel in order to educate Canadians on what kinds of things are going inside each one while giving them unbiased advice. On top of that, Oleg also has experience with NFT, airdrops, and crypto staking and he is constantly checking on new crypto assets.

His writing has been featured in popular Canadian media sources such as Toronto Sun and Ottawa Citizen.