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Netcoins vs. NDAX: What Works Better For Canadians in 2024

Oleg Galeev

Last updated September 20, 2024

Netcoins and NDAX are both popular crypto exchanges based in Canada that cater to a wide range of investors, from novices to experienced traders. Both platforms offer a variety of cryptocurrencies, advanced security measures, and user-friendly interfaces, but they differ in key areas like fee structure, educational resources, and customer support.

Description

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.

National Digital Asset Exchange Inc (NDAX) claims to have both the lowest fees and the most coins available in Canada (not 100% true). It has a beginner-friendly platform and a high-rated app.

Coins

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, EOS, USDC, Algorand, XRP, Avalanche, Ethereum Classic, SHIB, DOGE, MATIC, AXS, Cardano, Solana, Polkadot

Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, XRP, EOS, Stellar Lumens, Dogecoin, Cardano, USDT, Chainlink, Polkadot, Uniswap, The Graph, Compound, Aave, and Polygon.

Fees

  • Free deposits
  • Free fiat withdrawals
  • 0.5% trading fees
  • Fixed 0.2% buy/sell fee
  • Free deposits
  • $25 fixed fee for wire/bank withdrawals

Pros

  • 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
  • Free deposits
  • No deposit/withdrawal minimum or maximum
  • Fixed 0.2% buy/sell fee
  • Wide range of coins available
  • Fast Interac deposits 
  • Send, request, and gift crypto to another NDAX user for free, instantly
  • Address whitelisting

Cons

  • Few cryptocurrencies available
  • No credit/debit card purchases
  • CAD only
  • High trading fees
  • Only CAD deposits accepted
  • No credit/debit cards accepted
  • $25 fixed fee for wire/bank withdrawals
  • Hidden fees

Account Limits

  • $10 min for Interac e-Transfer
  • $500 min for wire transfer
  • $50 min for online bill payment
  • Deposit $100 - $10,000 via Interac daily
  • $50 minimum e-Transfer withdrawal
  • $20,000 minimum for wire transfers

Methods to buy

  • Interac e-Transfer
  • Bank wire
  • Online bill payment
  • Interac e-Transfer
  • Wire transfer
  • Bank draft

Security

  • 2FA available
  • Registered with FINTRAC

Assets stored in cold storage using the Ledger Vault (amount unknown)

Mobile and Desktop Trading

Netcoins provides an intuitive and user-friendly platform available for both desktop and mobile users. Their mobile app boasts a 4.0-star rating on the Google Play Store, while Apple users rate it with 4.0 stars on the App Store.

Similarly, NDAX offers a sleek and professional desktop platform, which has earned praise for its easy-to-navigate design. Its mobile app echoes the functionality and design of the desktop version, with a 4.7-star rating on the Apple App Store.

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 4.1-star rating from 171 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.

Netcoins trading screen

Netcoins Desktop App (trading screen)

Funding money to our account with Netcoins

Netcoins Desktop App (funding account)

Netcoins vs Coinsmart trading mobile app

Netcoins Mobile App (balances)

Netcoins vs Coinsmart bitcoin transaction in mobile app

Netcoins Mobile App (trading)

NDAX

NDAX has a packed website full of helpful resources. There is a page about each cryptocurrency they offer. These articles include the coin’s history, use cases, charting, how to buy, and more. 

NDAX has an iOS app with a 4.6-star rating with 550 reviews. Its Android app has a 4.0-star rating with 80 reviews. It has obviously done a good job with its app and people seem to like it.

NDAX Desktop interface

NDAX desktop interface

How to buy Polkadot on NDAX crypto exchange

NDAX trading screen

Ndax app screenshot

NDAX app interface

Ndax buying crypto app

NDAX app interface while trading

Security Compliance

Netcoins 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.

NDAX keeps its digital assets in cold storage using Ledger Vault, although they do not state the percentage. Ledger is a big name in the cryptocurrency space, known for making secure hardware wallets. 

When signing up to NDAX, you are forced to enable two-factor authentication. Most crypto exchanges will leave this optional, but we think everybody should do it, so we like this mandatory policy.

Additionally, when you wish to change your details such as your email, address, phone number etc, NDAX requires you to submit a selfie with a handwritten note outlining the request. 

Netcoins provides robust security measures, including storing 95% of assets in cold storage, requiring 2FA for account access, and following strict identity verification procedures. NDAX takes security just as seriously, if not more, and doesn't specify the exact percentage of assets held in cold storage. It enforces 2FA, uses Ledger Vault for asset protection, and requires a selfie with a handwritten note for any account detail changes.

Regulatory Compliance

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.

NDAX is registered as a Money Service Business with FINTRAC and AMF, NDAX is fully compliant with Canadian regulations. 

Both Netcoins and NDAX are compliant with Canadian laws and regulations. Netcoins is registered with FINTRAC as a Money Service Business (MSB) and adheres to the regulations set forth by the provincial securities commissions. Likewise, NDAX is registered as an MSB with FINTRAC and AMF, underlining its commitment to full compliance with Canadian regulations.

Customer support

Netcoins has excellent customer support with 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.

NDAX provides a knowledge centre on its website. Articles here answer some of the most common questions. They also have a live chat function, which is handy when you need a quick answer. You can also email them for support. Confusingly, NDAX lists its phone number on its contact page, which is rare for a crypto exchange to do. We weren’t sure if this meant they had phone support, so we reached out via email to ask. They got back to us a very impressive 20 minutes later to let us know that they only have email support. So that’s that. Still, that’s the fastest response we’ve seen.

Netcoins sets a high bar with its 24/7 customer support service, which includes live chat, email, and phone support. It is one of the few crypto exchanges offering phone support. On the other hand, NDAX offers a knowledge center on its website, live chat, and email support. It also lists a phone number but does not provide phone support. Despite this, NDAX impresses with its fast email response time.

Conclusion

While both Netcoins and NDAX provide commendable services in terms of user experience, trading features, security, and compliance, Netcoins emerges as the winner in this comparison. Its comprehensive customer support, including phone assistance, along with a wide range of cryptocurrencies and commendable user ratings on both Google Play and the App Store, give it an edge over NDAX.

We recommend choosing Netcoins over NDAX for your cryptocurrency trading needs. By opting for Netcoins through our referral link, you support us in conducting comprehensive independent analyses of crypto trading options for Canadians.

If you find that neither Netcoins nor NDAX meets your requirements, we encourage you to explore our monthly-updated list of the best exchanges for Canadians to trade crypto. This list provides a range of alternative options that may better suit your specific needs and preferences.

Author

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.