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Coinsquare Exchange Review
Although they started with humble beginnings in 2014, Coinsquare has grown to become one of the largest bitcoin exchanges in Canada over the past few years. The company has been backed by nearly $50 million of investment capital over the years, and their userbase of over 100,000 makes them one of the biggest players in Canada’s cryptocurrency market.
Coinsquare benefited greatly from the collapse of Quadriga; however, this exchange is far from perfect. While user funds have never been lost in a security breach on Coinsquare, there have been minor incidents that some people have used to paint a negative picture of this Canadian cryptocurrency exchange.
Let’s take a closer look at what Coinsquare has to offer and whether or not it could be the right choice as your on-ramp to the bitcoin economy.
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Coinsquare
- Excellent cryptocurrency exchange for Canadians
- Low fees compared to competitors
- Easy-to-use interface that’s ideal for new crypto users
- Accepts CAD by default
Pros
Operating successfully since 2014
Simple interface
Low fees and accepts CAD
Supports French-speaking users
Cons
Only available in Canada
Limited cryptocurrency support
No advanced trading features
High fees on credit card-based purchases
User data breach occurred in the past
How to Sign Up for Coinsquare
It is really easy to sign up for an OKCoin Exchange account by following these steps:
- Click Sign Up on the OKCoin homepage
- Enter your email and create a password, or choose from Google or Telegram auto sign up
- Enter verification code sent to email
- Choose Individual Account
- Enter personal information that matches your government ID, click Submit Personal Info
- Done! Level 1 Verification is now complete, which allows you to deposit and withdraw up to $2000 total each day
- To reach Level 2 Verification and unlock higher limits, you need to upload a photo of a piece of government ID that matches the information you provided
- To reach Level 3 Verification and unlock unlimited limits you need to provide proof of address in the form of a utility bill, bank statement or another ID for example
- Regardless of which verification level you unlock, you will need to add funds to your account, either by depositing fiat, crypto, or purchasing some with a Visa credit card
What Can You Buy on Coinsquare?
Coinsquare currently supports trading for ten different cryptocurrencies. A list of the supported crypto assets can be seen below:
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Litecoin
- Bitcoin Cash
- Bitcoin SV
- Dogecoin
- Dash
- Ripple
- Ethereum Classic
- Stellar
Coinsquare Supported Operating Systems
Coinsquare is supported on all major operating systems. There are mobile apps available for Android and iOS devices, and the website can be visited via any web browser on any operating system via your laptop or desktop computer.
Is Coinsquare Safe?
It’s true that Coinsquare has never faced a serious security incident when it comes to customer funds; however, there was a different kind of security breach in the past that should not be ignored. During the crazy times of 2020, Coinsquare suffered a data breach where a former employee had access to a large amount of personal information about Coinsquare users and decided to put that data on the darkweb. This may not seem like a big deal at first, but personal data is much more important information than most people may think, especially in the world of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. The type of data that was made available by the former employee included user phone numbers and ID documents. The fact that users’ phone numbers were released is more troubling than anything else because they can be used to target users for hack in a variety of ways such as phishing texts or SIM swap attacks. Cryptocurrency users have lost millions of dollars worth of value over the years through a large number of SIM swapping attacks that have taken place.
Although the data breach suffered by Coinsquare did not involve the theft of any actual bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies, it should be easy to see that the fact all of this personal data was stolen by a former employee is not a good sign of the exchange platform’s overall security practices.
Another worrying story related to Coinsquare is that the company has allegedly been involved in wash trading in the past. Wash trading is a practice where the company will effectively inflate the trading activity on the exchange to make it look like there is more liquidity on the exchange than there is in reality. This sort of practice is generally frowned upon by both traders and regulators around the world, and at the very least, it shows that the exchange is willing to bend the rules a bit to reach their goals.
Are Coinsquare Fees High?
Coinsquare’s trading fees are not too high at all. In fact, they offer some of the lowest cryptocurrency trading fees in all of Canada. However, there are a few different types of trades that can be made on the site, so it’s important to understand the differences between all of these different fee structures.
When you are using the Bit Markets section of the Coinsquare platform, the fees are 0.1% on the maker side and 0.2% on the taker side. Fees are even low for Quick Trade transactions in which the user is buying coins directly from Coinsquare. Trades involving bitcoin come with a 0.2% fee, while trades between different altcoins lead to a 0.4% fee.
Coinsquare Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, Coinsquare’s services are only available in Canada at this time. Additionally, Canadian dollars are the only fiat currency supported by the platform.
Coinsquare has never been hacked in terms of an attacker gaining access to customer funds; however, there was a data breach where 5,000 Coinsquare users’ personal data was stolen and made available on the darkweb. This data breach included extremely sensitive data such as phone numbers and ID documents. The seriousness of this sort of security incident should not be overlooked.
It depends on what kind of trade you are making, but fees for trading can vary between 0.1% and 0.4%. On the Bit Market section of the site, the fee will be 0.1% if you’re the maker of the trade and 0.2% if you’re the taker of the trade. If you are making a quick trade between two altcoins with Coinsquare as the counterparty, then the fee will be 0.4%.
If you are trying to decide between Coinsquare and Coinbase as your cryptocurrency exchange of choice, then you need to think about your specific needs. Coinbase definitely has higher fees, but the reality is they’re also a much more trusted brand when it comes to the safety and security of your funds.
Coinsquare also supports the Canadian dollar and Interac for deposits and withdrawals, so it’s much more integrated into the Canadian financial system. It should be noted that Coinbase Pro will be a much better option than Coinsquare if you’re looking for more advanced trading features.
