Newton vs. Uphold: What Works Better For Canadians in 2023

Oleg Galeev

4 months ago

In this comparison, we delve into the key features and services offered by two notable cryptocurrency exchanges catering to the Canadian market – Newton and Uphold. Both platforms offer a diverse range of cryptocurrencies, but while Newton is exclusive to Canadian customers, Uphold provides a broader asset variety including stocks and precious metals.

Description

Newton prides itself on being Canada’s first no-fee cryptocurrency exchange. They claim their exchange is 2-3x lower than most other exchanges.

Uphold is a multi-asset platform that allows you to trade more than 66 cryptocurrencies, 50 US stocks and four precious metals. You can trade crypto for stocks or stocks for crypto, instantly.

Coins

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, Stellar, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, USDC, USDT, Chainlink, Aave, Uniswap, Polygon, Compound, SushiSwap, Curve, Synthetix, Dai, Polkadot

70+

Fees

0% CAD funding
0% CAD withdrawal
0% crypto deposit/withdrawals (up to $5 network fee waived)
No commissions or trading fees
0.40% to 0.72% spread

1.8% spread on crypto for Canadians
3% spread for precious metals
1% spread for US equities
3.99% credit card fee
$3.99 withdrawal fee to US/EU/UK banks
Free deposits from US/EU/UK banks
Free debit card purchases

Pros

No fees at all
Wide selection of coins available
You can export a T5 statement
Sleek interface
Newton Pro for advanced traders in Beta stage

Wide range of cryptocurrencies
Trade stocks and precious metals
Swap crypto for stocks or metal in seconds
Recurring buy/sell orders
50 simultaneous Limit orders allowed
Free debit card purchases

Cons

Very high spreads
No live chat support
No credit card deposits. Debit must be pre-approved.

High spreads
Uphold debit card not available to Canadians
Bank deposits/withdrawals not available for Canadians
3.99% credit card processing fee
Lack of search filters for equities

Account Limits

$10,000 max daily Interac e-Transfer deposit/withdrawal
$70,000 max weekly Interac e-Transfer deposit/withdrawal
$5,000 electronic funds transfer deposit
$50,000 electronic funds transfer withdrawal
$1M wire transfer deposit/withdrawal
$5M daily trading limit

Low

App

Methods to buy

Interac e-Transfer
Wire transfer
Connect bank account

Debit card

Security

Daily exchange backups
Third-party custody of assets, mostly offline
Direct bank intergration to reduce fraud

Compliant with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)
Reserves are shown on the website
2FA

Mobile and Desktop Trading

Newton's app offers a sleek design and a user-friendly interface, holding a 4.6-star rating on the Apple App Store from over 17,000 reviews. The desktop version also boasts a streamlined experience, making trading a seamless process. Uphold's app has a 4.6-star rating on the Apple App Store and a 4.7-star rating on Google Play. While some users find the app clunky, others appreciate its multi-asset trading capabilities. Its desktop platform offers a similarly broad range of trading options and is praised for its intuitive design.

Newton

Newton has a user-friendly interface and a modern, clean look. It’s simple and easy to use.

Newton’s overall design is clean and modern. They also usual casual and friendly language. It doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously, which is refreshing. At first glance, Newton seems user-friendly and fairly simple.

Its iOS app has a rating of 4.4 stars with 5.6k reviews, and its Android app has a rating of 2.8 stars with 800 reviews.

Newton desktop interface

Market order with Newton

Newton app interface

Newton app interface while trading

Uphold

Uphold’s app has a 3.5-star rating from 5,000 reviews on the Apple App store and a 3.2-star rating from 18,000 reviews on Google Play. Some reviewers have said the app is slow and buggy, with the verification process being particularly slow.

Uphold is easy to use for beginners. There is a quick trade option called “Anything to Anything”. All you need to do is enter the asset you want to trade, the amount, and the asset you wish to swap it for. You can trade crypto to stocks, stocks to metal etc. in just a few clicks.

Uphold desktop app

Uphold mobile app while trading

Uphold main screen app

Security Compliance

Newton does daily backups to minimize risk and states on its website that customer data is stored in Canada. They also perform daily site backups, have offline third-party storage for digital assets, and they allow their customers to directly connect their bank account to reduce fraud.

To secure your Uphold account, you can enable two-factor authentication.

Uphold trading platform utilizes cold storage for your safety.

Newton employs rigorous security measures, utilizing a combination of cold storage, encryption, and institutional-grade policies to ensure the safety of assets.

Uphold is also likely safe, with a focus on compliance. However, specifics on technological security measures such as cold storage or insurance coverage are not readily available on their site.

Regulatory Compliance

Newton is fully compliant with FINTRAC regulations in Canada.

Uphold is fully regulated in the USA. They are compliant with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and record keeping regulations with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). It's Canadian-friendly as well.

Both Newton and Uphold are fully registered as a Money Services Business with FINTRAC in Canada, ensuring that it complies with Canadian laws and regulations.

Customer support

Newton has FAQs and a knowledge center on the website. Customers can message the support teams either online via their support pages or through email. Newton does not have a phone and live support.

Uphold has good reviews about their customer service teams. They offer help centres on their website and within the app.

You can contact Uphold’s customer support via their online ticketing system on their website.

Newton provides a dedicated support portal for clients, which includes an extensive FAQ section and an email support system that guarantees responses within 48 hours. Uphold, on the other hand, offers support via an online ticketing system. User reviews generally depict their support team as responsive and helpful.

Conclusion

While both Newton and Uphold offer impressive features and cater to a broad asset range, Newton takes the win for Canadian customers. Its focus on the Canadian market, better app ratings, clear security measures, and local compliance make it an ideal choice for Canadians looking to invest in cryptocurrencies.

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

If you find that neither Newton nor Uphold 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 Galeev

Cryptocurrency Specialist

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.