Crypto.com Review: Should Canadians Use It?

 

Crypto.com is fast becoming one of the best platforms for Canadians to buy cryptocurrency but in our opinion it’s fat from being best for many reasons. Crypto.com has many features and offers a one-stop shop for buying, staking, crypto Visa cards, and NFTs. Personally, I don’t like many things about Crypto.com exchanges that I will share in this review.

Crypto.com recently became the first global crypto exchange to sign a pre-registration undertaking with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). This makes crypto.com the first global crypto exchange to comply with the OSC’s regulations in Canada. It means that residents in Ontario and other Canadian provinces will be able to use crypto.com’s full suite of products knowing that the exchange is fully compliant with Canadian regulations. 

Crypto.com Features

Crypto.com has many stand out features. First, it has two trading platforms – the app and the Pro desktop exchange. The app is suitable for all your crypto needs and is best for beginners offering credit/debit payments and bank transfers. If you’re looking for more advanced charting and trading tools, then the desktop exchange might be more suitable.

Crypto.com offers crypto staking for many different coins, plus lending for stablecoins. Unfortunately, they removed USDT for Canadians in 2023 due to regulations. You can receive up to 14% APR lending stablecoins and varying amounts for staking other cryptocurrencies.

Stake crypto.com coin (CRO) and you can receive one of the Visa crypto cards. Simply top up your card with Canadian dollars and receive between 2%-8% in cashback on all purchases (paid in CRO). You can also get Spotify and Netflix rebates, airport lounge access and other benefits. I personally believe in CRO and I think it will explode one day.

Crypto.com recently launched its NFT marketplace. Featuring NFTs from popular artists including Snoop Dogg and companies such as Aston Martin, the NFT marketplace runs on the crypto.org chain. The chain offers low fees and fast transactions, much like the Binance Smart Chain – one of crypto.com’s fiercest competitors.

Crypto.com also offers futures and margin trading, a VIP programme offering cheaper fees for high-volume traders, and you can also get a collateral-backed loan in a crypto of your choosing. 

There is now a comprehensive crypto education section available called the University. Here you can learn about crypto, trading, wallets and other information for beginners and more advanced traders. With crypto.com Pay you can now make purchases at some online merchants using your crypto.com app and receive cashback. 

Crypto.com Registration & Verification Process for Canadians

Since crypto.com is not based in Canada the sign-up process is relatively simple.

What You Need to Open an Account:

• Must be 18+
• A government-issued ID
• A selfie

The process is less invasive than other exchanges we have reviewed since crypto.com is not based in Canada. They simply need to comply with the jurisdiction they are registered in. 

Crypto.com does not ask you employment questions and verification can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days depending on if their compliance team needs to check your documents.

You can sign up here.

Crypto.com Fees For Canadians

• Free deposits
• Variable Withdrawal fees
• Send crypto to other crypto.com users for free
• 0.4% maker/taker fees (up to $25k USD monthly trading volume)

Although there are free deposits, withdrawals have variable rates. Crypto.com charges trading fees based on your monthly trading volume. For volume up to $25,000 USD per month, the maker/taker fees are 0.4%, which is reasonable. While still not the cheapest fees of Canadian crypto exchanges, if you stake crypto.com coin (CRO) you can benefit from lower fees. This is what I have been doing for the past year. If you don’t need CRO and you consider fees to be high, in this case, take a look at Coinsmart.

Crypto.com Spreads

A spread in trading is the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay (bid price) and the lowest price a seller is willing to sell (ask price). The spread goes to the exchange as a profit. 

Crypto exchanges that have buy and sell fees will often have lower spreads than crypto exchanges that advertise no trading fees. 

Since crypto.com charges 0.4% in trading fees, their spreads are lower than some other exchanges. 

How Much Does it Really Cost To Trade With Crypto.com?

We deposited $100 to crypto.com via Interac. Since deposits are free we received the full $100. We bought Bitcoin and received 0.0031699 BTC or $99.77 worth. We lost $0.23 or 0.23% to fees, which is less than the 0.4$ we were expecting.

Crypto.com Liquidity

CoinMarketCap gives liquidity scores for exchanges with 0 being the most illiquid and 1000 being the most liquid. crypto.com has a score of 689/1000 for its Bitcoin market and 648/1000 for Ethereum, which shows that crypto.com has deep liquidity for these markets. 

Further, crypto.com has a daily trading volume of more than $700 million. The higher the trading volume, the higher the liquidity and usually, the tighter the spreads.

Crypto.com Currencies & Deposit Methods

Crypto.com offers Canadians the ability to deposit Canadian dollars into their fiat wallets via Interac e-Transfer or bank wire. These deposits are free. You can also purchase crypto with your credit or debit card. 

Crypto.com is available worldwide and supports a number of fiat currencies including CAD, USD, and EUR.

How Long Do Deposits Take?

We deposited $100 via Interac e-transfer to crypto.com and it took 20 minutes to appear in our account.

How Long Does it Take to Withdraw Coins?

Crypto withdrawal times can vary depending on the network you use as well as how many other people are using the network at any given time. For bitcoin withdrawals it can take up to 10 minutes to receive bitcoin in your wallet.

Crypto.com Security and Safety

Is crypto.com safe for Canadians to use? Crypto.com offers some of the best security of any crypto exchange. An impressive 100% of customers’ funds are held in cold storage in a Ledger Vault. Only the company’s funds are held in hot wallets. 

Additionally, crypto.com offers multi-factor authentication including Face-ID and Touch-ID, phone and email confirmations. 

Crypto.com makes it mandatory for all users to confirm every withdrawal via 2FA and email. Further you must wait a minimum of 24 hours to withdraw crypto to a new address that you haven’t previously used. 

Crypto.com consults with leading cybersecurity firms to ensure their platform is secure. They also have a bug bounty where people can receive rewards for identifying vulnerabilities. 

Crypto.com Mobile and Desktop App

Crypto.com’s mobile app has everything you need. You can buy and sell crypto easily, add funds to your fiat or crypto wallets, stake or lend your crypto, apply for a crypto.com card, track favourite coins, withdraw to external wallets and more. The app is an all-in-one trading platform that’s user-friendly and suitable for beginners.

The app has a 4.3-star rating from 56,000 reviews on the Apple App Store and a 3.9-star rating from 200,000 reviews on Google Play. The crypto.com desktop exchange offers advanced charting and order types, but it can be a little confusing for beginners.

 

Design and Usability

The Crypto.com app is intuitive and easy to navigate. You can switch between light and dark mode and easily view your portfolio, wallets, and staking and lending rewards. The app has many features but none of it is particularly confusing.

After a couple of uses the app can become quite addictive, especially if you have a large portfolio. There is a lot to keep track of if you also have a crypto Visa card and staking rewards. Crypto.com has made a great app that makes it easy to trade crypto.

The crypto.com desktop exchange offers advanced charting and order types, but it can be confusing for beginners. You can mark the charts with various indicators, view all trading pairs, and view trading history of any asset.

On the right you can place your market or limit orders, or trade with margin.

To make a deposit, locate your fiat wallet and then select “transfer” then “deposit”. Then select your currency.

Crypto.com Customer Support

While Crypto.com has many great features, their customer service is somewhat slow and lacking. The exchange does not offer educational resources or a knowledge centre on its website, which is a little disappointing. It could ease the amount of support tickets received if there were resources available for people to troubleshoot their issues. Nevertheless, the support was always able to handle my issue within 24 hours. 

What do other customers say about Crypto.com?

Customers are largely disappointed with crypto.com giving it a poor 2.1-star rating on Trustpilot with 64% bad reviews. 

Many users say they are unable to withdraw from the app and some say the customer support is unhelpful. Many say the app is difficult to use and has too many bugs and glitches.

Does crypto.com Offer Staking or Other Services?

Crypto.com offers crypto staking for many different coins, plus lending for stablecoins. You can receive up to 12% APR for staking cryptocurrencies depending on the lock-up period and how much CRO you stake. 

There is also something called a supercharger, which anyone can participate in. Simply stake at least 100 CRO into a supercharger and you will receive rewards in the crypto offered. The APR is usually 15-20%, so higher than regular staking. Superchargers last for 10-45 days, so they are not a long-term growth strategy, but they do allow you to boost your holdings for a short period. 

There are also crypto Visa cards available for Canadians. While these cards used to offer high rewards, they have recently been reduced. Stake crypto.com coin (CRO) and you can receive one of the Visa crypto cards. Simply top up your card with Canadian dollars and receive up to 5% in cashback on all purchases (paid in CRO). You can also get airport lounge access and some other benefits.

Does crypto.com Restrict or Freeze Accounts?

Crypto.com can freeze or restrict accounts at their will. Sometimes crypto.com will not approve an account but give little information as to why. Often it is because users who sign up don’t provide all necessary documents for compliance purposes. 

If there is any suspicious activity on your account, such as unusual trade volume, they may freeze your account until you contact them. In some cases where you are linked to criminal activity, the RCMP or other authorities may request your account be frozen, which crypto.com will do. 

It is easy to link a crypto wallet address on the blockchain with someone’s identity on a crypto exchange. All transactions are public and you must provide identification when signing up to exchanges, so if any wallet is linked with criminal activity, the wallet can easily be traced to an identity on an exchange. 

Crypto.com Alternatives

There are several Canadian crypto exchanges to choose from and we recommend Bitbuy as a good alternative to crypto.com. 

Bitbuy is a regulated Canadian crypto exchange with a high reputation and excellent security. Fees are based on your trading volume and vary between 0 to 1.5%. 

	crypto.com	Bitbuy	NDAX
Trading fees	0.4% with discounts for CRO stakers & VIP members	0 to 1.5%	0.2%
Cryptocurrencies	150+	16+	35+
Additional features	OTC Desk, NFT marketplace, Visa cards, staking & lending, crypto loans, futures & margin trading, educational resources	OTC Desk	Staking, OTC Desk
Customer Support	Good	Good	Poor
Security	Excellent	Excellent	Good

 Does crypto.com Have an OTC Desk?

Yes, crypto.com offers Over-The-Counter trading for large trades. You’ll get a custom quote and fast settlement on your order. The minimum trade is $50,000.

Common Crypto Exchange Scams Related to Crypto.com

When using a crypto exchange, it’s easy to feel that your assets are safe. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Crypto.com has been hacked before with funds in hot wallets stolen. However, crypto.com swiftly patched the vulnerability and refunded every single customer. This event shows that even the most trusted exchanges are not immune to hacks. Always move large amounts of crypto off exchanges to private wallets.

Popular crypto scams include copycat websites, fake social media accounts, and phishing emails. These emails, social media accounts and websites look identical to the real thing and the scammers will try to get sensitive information from you such as your passwords or private keys. 

Always check the email address and website URL of the exchange and make sure you are interacting with the official one. Never connect a decentralized wallet to a website unless you know for sure it’s the real one.

Conclusion

Is Crypto.com legit? Yes, crypto.com is fast becoming one of the world’s most popular crypto exchanges. Not only does the exchange have many features such as staking, NFTs and crypto Visa cards, but they have created a robust app that makes it easy to use all of the features. Free deposits via Interac e-Transfer are available and the trading fees are reasonable. Their coin (CRO) is promising and they provide really good staking options. 

Crypto.com is one of the most secure crypto exchanges around putting 100% of customer funds in cold storage. There are also 150+ coins available so you are not limited with choice. Crypto.com needs to work on their customer support and educational resources, but otherwise, it’s a great choice for Canadians looking to buy crypto. You can sign up here.