CoinSmart Vs Wealthsimple Crypto: Which Is Better For Canadians In 2026?

How Do CoinSmart And Wealthsimple Crypto 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 Wealthsimple Crypto?

How Do You Fund And Cash Out CoinSmart And Wealthsimple Crypto In Canada?

All funding ended. Accounts moved to Bitbuy. Crypto trades in CAD or USD; USD trades pay a 1.5% FX fee plus a corporate exchange fee unless you have a USD account. The 5 business day deposit hold before crypto withdrawal is the main timing trap.

What Does It Actually Cost To Buy On Wealthsimple Crypto?

Wealthsimple Crypto: Flat 0.5% fee per order. The high end adds the 1.00% spread used in Wealthsimple's own CAD 5,000 example (spread varies with market conditions) from the fee schedule dated 2026-09-24. Active Trader status (50 eligible trades in a calendar month) removes the spread. A CAD 1 surcharge applies to orders under CAD 100 (not counted here). Ranges reflect each platform’s published band, not a single quote. Bank and network fees are not included.

What Do CoinSmart And Wealthsimple Crypto Offer Beyond Buying And Selling?

Wealthsimple Crypto Only

• Staking: ETH, SOL, ADA and DOT, advertised as up to 5% a year. Wealthsimple keeps 30% of rewards (15% for Generation) and validators take their own commission (ETH about 5%).
• Crypto swaps: Swap one eligible coin for another in one trade with one fee instead of two.
• Recurring buys and price-target orders: Schedule automatic purchases or set a price at which an order executes. Recurring orders do not count toward Active Trader status.
• DEX trading: On-chain token access with CAD 0 network fees, per Wealthsimple, through the Crypto Web3 Wallet.
• Active Trader status: Earned with 50 or more eligible trades in a calendar month, valid for that month and the next. Cuts the crypto fee to 0.5% to 0% with a 0% spread, plus priority phone and email support.

What Happens To Your Money If CoinSmart Or Wealthsimple Crypto 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.

Wealthsimple Crypto: Wealthsimple Investments Inc. is a CIRO dealer member, so cash in the account is covered by CIPF, but crypto is explicitly not covered by CIPF, CDIC or any investor protection scheme. Wealthsimple says crypto is held in trust and would remain yours in an insolvency, and that custodial partners each carry over CAD 75M of insurance, but that cover is held by the partners and the custodians are not named on the product page. No proof of reserves is published. Hot wallet losses are the part covered by the Coincover recovery arrangement.

How Are CoinSmart And Wealthsimple Crypto 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.

Wealthsimple Crypto: Selling, swapping one coin for another and staking rewards are taxable; withdrawing crypto to your own wallet is not a disposition. Wealthsimple provides a Realized Gains and Losses report as PDF or CSV and a Crypto Transaction Summary CSV, and says there is no official tax slip for crypto.

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 Wealthsimple Crypto?

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 Wealthsimple Crypto If

• You already hold stocks or cash at Wealthsimple and want crypto in the same app.
• You value a CIRO-regulated dealer and a simple flat fee over the lowest possible cost.
• You trade 50 or more times a month and can qualify for Active Trader pricing.

What Happened To CoinSmart?

CoinSmart stopped operating separately after WonderFi moved all its client accounts to Bitbuy, announced in September 2023.

WonderFi announced on September 8, 2023 that Bitbuy would take over all CoinSmart client accounts. The operating company was Simply Digital Technologies Inc., its FINTRAC registration ceased on September 10, 2024, and its CSA decisions (October 21 and December 21, 2021) are listed as expired.

As of October 2, 2026, coinsmart.com serves the Bitbuy site with a banner saying Bitbuy is now part of Robinhood.

Former CoinSmart users now sit with Bitbuy and, through it, Robinhood. Use Bitbuy's migration support article to find your account. For new accounts I send people to registered platforms such as NDAX instead.

What Should CoinSmart Users Use Instead?

The practical answer is Wealthsimple Crypto, since it is available to Canadians today. Here is what I can verify about it.

Wealthsimple Crypto: People who already invest with Wealthsimple.

NDAX: Low flat fees and cheap cash-outs to your bank. It is a registered Canadian platform with CAD funding, a fit for the people this platform used to serve.

How Do CoinSmart And Wealthsimple Crypto Compare On Fees, Funding, And Coins?

CoinSmart, in the past tense: CoinSmart was a Canadian platform that has been merged, so I do not publish old fee or coin numbers.

Without Active Trader status the fee is a flat 0.5% on every order plus a spread on market orders. The fee schedule's own example adds a 0.50% fee and 1.00% spread for 1.50%. Active Trader status cuts the fee to 0.35% from CAD 10,000 of 30-day volume and 0.05% at the top tiers, with no spread. Orders under CAD 100 pick up a CAD 1 surcharge.

Interac e-Transfer funding is free from Wealthsimple's side, up to CAD 10,000 per transfer or your bank's limit. Crypto withdrawal limits are CAD 10,000 daily and CAD 25,000 weekly, per a secondary summary of the help centre, and I could not retrieve a CAD withdrawal fee.

Wealthsimple says you can trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and 170+ other coins.

Which Is Safer?

CoinSmart. There is no separate CoinSmart to assess. The platform that took its accounts is itself being folded into Robinhood.

Wealthsimple Crypto. It is a CIRO-regulated investment dealer, and crypto is held in trust. Cash is covered by CIPF, crypto is not. Wealthsimple says its custodial partners hold over $75M in cold storage coverage each, which is its own statement and not an audit.

Wealthsimple Crypto Pros And Cons

Who Should Choose CoinSmart, And Who Should Choose Wealthsimple Crypto?

Nobody opening a new account in Canada should choose CoinSmart. Status: merged into bitbuy. Existing customers should follow the withdrawal guidance above.

Choose Wealthsimple Crypto if you are existing Wealthsimple users who want crypto in the same app.