CoinSmart vs Netcoins: What Works Better For Canadians?
Oleg Galeev
3 months ago
CoinSmart and Netcoins are two popular Canadian cryptocurrency exchange platforms. How do they fare for Canadians looking to buy crypto? The OCryptoCanada team did some extensive research to see how this two compare. Check our CoinSmart vs Netcoins below.




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.
Netcoins is a Canadian crypto exchange owned by a publicly-traded company called Bigg Digital Assets. Netcoins was founded by Mitchell Demeter who created the world’s first Bitcoin ATM in 2013.
Coins
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, EOS, USDC, USDT,Cardano, Dogecoin, Polkadot, Shiba Inu, Chainlink, Uniswap, Solana
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, EOS, USDC, Algorand, XRP, Avalanche, Ethereum Classic
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
- Free deposits
- Free fiat withdrawals
- 0.5% trading fees
Pros
- Suitable for beginners
- Advanced trading options
- Interac e-Transfer available
- Trade crypto to crypto (no trading pairs needed)
- Same-day verification
- CAD, USD, EUR deposits
- Free fiat and crypto deposits
- Free fiat withdrawals
- Interac e-Transfer available
- Phone support
- Instant verification
- Licenced and regulated in Canada
- Educational resources available
- Great customer service
Cons
- There is a 1.5% fee for Interac deposits less than $2000
- 1% withdrawal fee
- Various crypto withdrawal fees
- 0.2% trading fees
- Not many altcoins are available
- Few cryptocurrencies available
- No credit/debit card purchases
- CAD only
- High trading fees
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 min for Interac e-Transfer
- $500 min for wire transfer
- $50 min for online bill payment
Methods to buy
- Credit/debit cards
- Interac e-Transfer
- Bank wire
- SEPA (for EUR)
- Interac e-Transfer
- Bank wire
- Online bill payment
Security
- Crypto stored in cold storage with BitGo
- $100M insurance
- 2FA available
- Chainalysis to detect fraud
- 2FA available
- Registered with FINTRAC
Mobile and Desktop Trading
Both CoinSmart and Netcoins offer simple and beginner-friendly trading platforms.
Coinsmart
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.
Coinsmart App |
Coinsmart App trading screen |
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 1.7-star rating with 131 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.
Netcoins
Netcoins’ trading platform is simple to use with a sidecar offering all you need including options to buy, sell and trade. Your dashboard has two big options to either deposit funds or deposit crypto.
Buying crypto with Netcoins is easy thanks to its simple trade feature.
The Netcoins app has a 4.8-star rating from 116 reviews on the Apple App Store. It has a 3.6-star rating on Google from 127 reviews.
The app is easy to use and beginner-friendly. It is almost an exact copy of the desktop platform but optimized for mobile.
Netcoin Mobile App (balances) |
Netcoin Mobile App (trading) |
Security and Regulatory Compliance
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.
Netcoins is fully regulated in Canada. It is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with FINTRAC. Since Netcoins is also owned by Bigg Digital Assets, a publicly traded company, you can be sure that Netcoins is a safe exchange.
Netcoins also utilizes the services of Bitrank and QLUE to stay compliant by monitoring wallet addresses and transactions for fraud and connections to criminal enterprises.
Two-factor authentication is available to help keep your account secure.
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.
Similarly, Netcoins also has excellent customer support. Netcoins has an impressive 85% excellent customer service reviews on Trustpilot with a 4.5-star rating. Netcoins offers email support, live chat and phone support, which is rare for crypto exchanges.
It’s clear that both CoinSmart and Netcoins value good customer support.
Conclusion
Both CoinSmart and Netcoins are great options for Canadians looking to trade crypto. 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. Netcoins’ mobile app and customer support are some of the highest-rated we’ve come across and its trading platform is also easy to use. While we think both exchanges are good choices, we think CoinSmart comes out slightly ahead because it offers more altcoins, lower trading fees, and insurance for your crypto. You can sign up for Coinsmart here.