Newton Vs VirgoCX: Which Is Better For Canadians In 2026?

How Do Newton And VirgoCX Compare, Fact By Fact?

Every row below comes from each company’s own pages and the Canadian registries, checked October 2026. Where a row has no fair winner, it says so.

What Are The Key Differences Between Newton And VirgoCX?

How Do You Fund And Cash Out Newton And VirgoCX In Canada?

Account verification is required before any deposit. Crypto withdrawals to an external address need the address saved in your address book first. VirgoCX is no longer a registered dealer in Canada; do not treat these methods as current.

What Does It Actually Cost To Buy On Newton?

Newton: Standard Silver-tier spread fee shown at trade time: 1.00% to 1.15% on BTC, ETH and USDC, up to 1.60% on other assets, checked 2026-10-03 on Newton's fee article. Signature status lowers it, to 0.05% at CAD 5M of trailing 365-day volume. Neither publishes a maker and taker schedule because there is no order book: the spread is the fee. If cost matters most, NDAX (flat 0.20%) or Kraken Pro are cheaper places to buy in Canada. Ranges reflect each platform’s published band, not a single quote. Bank and network fees are not included.

What Do Newton And VirgoCX Offer Beyond Buying And Selling?

Newton Only

• Signature Program: Fee tiers assigned automatically by trailing 365-day volume: Gold CAD 100K (BTC, ETH, USDC at 1.00%), Platinum CAD 1M (0.85% and 1.00%), Diamond CAD 2M (0.50%), Onyx CAD 5M (0.05%).
• Staking: Up to 4.5% APY shown for ETH, SOL and ADA (estimates, not guaranteed). Newton keeps 30% of ETH rewards plus execution income, 27% of SOL rewards plus MEV rewards, and 7.5% of ADA rewards. Staked assets are locked.
• Recurring buys: Set an amount, a coin and a frequency for automatic purchases.
• Referral program: A friend gets a CAD 20 bonus after signing up and trading CAD 100 within 90 days; the referrer earns up to CAD 100 depending on activity.

What Happens To Your Money If Newton Or VirgoCX Fails?

Newton: As a CIRO investment dealer member since March 2026, cash left in a Newton account is covered by CIPF, but Newton states crypto is not protected by CIPF, CDIC or any investor protection scheme. Over 80% of assets are kept offline and Newton says it carries crypto insurance, but it gives no amount and the custodian is not named on the current page, and no proof of reserves is published. An exchange hack or insolvency would leave you relying on that insurance and on the dealer's regulatory capital rules for the portion you cannot withdraw in time.

VirgoCX: The OSC lists VirgoCX's restricted dealer registration as suspended since November 24, 2025, and the CSA list shows terms requiring a wind-down of its registrable business. It stopped holding customer crypto in 2025, so the remaining service is non-custodial and sits outside securities-law investor protections. A FINTRAC MSB registration covers anti-money-laundering rules only. CIPF never covered crypto. Use this platform only if you accept those gaps, or move to a registered dealer.

How Are Newton And VirgoCX Treated For Tax In Canada?

Newton: Selling, swapping one coin for another and staking rewards are dispositions or income; buying and withdrawing to your own wallet are not. Newton exports your history as a Koinly-formatted CSV and links directly to Koinly; there is no CRA-ready report from Newton.

VirgoCX: Past activity on VirgoCX followed the usual rules: selling, swapping or spending crypto are dispositions reportable to the CRA. Check your old statements for cost basis; export tools are Not published.

Selling, swapping or spending crypto is a disposition for the CRA on any platform. This is not tax advice: see my guide to crypto taxes in Canada.

Which Should You Choose, Newton Or VirgoCX?

Choose Newton If

• You want a Canadian-only CIRO dealer with free Interac and EFT funding and a simple app.
• You trade small amounts of the majors and prefer one visible price over order book mechanics.
• You trade over CAD 1M a year and can reach Signature tiers that cut the fee below 1%.

Choose VirgoCX If

• You already hold a VirgoCX history and need to check records
• You are looking only for registered Canadian dealers: pick another platform

What Happened To VirgoCX?

Winding Down Its Registered Business

VirgoCX is still on the CSA list, but under terms that require it to wind down its registrable business. It stopped holding crypto for customers in 2025 and now offers only a non-custodial buy-and-sell service, which it says is not offered under its securities dealer registration. The custodial wind-down began on April 4, 2025, following a CSA Amended Decision dated January 30, 2025, and the transition deadline was set at June 16, 2025.

Its trading fee and coin count could not be verified, because the official fee page sits behind a bot check. Third-party spread and coin figures were not used. The Interac e-Transfer was free per a 2021 support article, which was not re-confirmed after the 2025 switch.

What Should VirgoCX Users Do Now?

Assets still on the platform after the June 16, 2025 deadline were force-sold, and customers are expected to hold crypto in their own wallets. No securities-law investor protections were confirmed for the non-custodial service. If you want that self-custody model with a regulated Canadian company, Bitcoin Well delivers bitcoin to your own wallet at a 1.5% online spread, though it is Bitcoin only and not on the CSA list.

What Should VirgoCX Users Use Instead?

Newton: An Available Option

Newton is the available side of this pairing, and it is best for a cleaner app and a CIRO-supervised dealer.

Newton takes free Interac e-Transfer, wire and pre-authorized debit (EFT) deposits. Interac requests top out at CAD 10,000 per transaction and CAD 70,000 per week. Withdrawals carry no stated fee: Interac goes out at up to CAD 10,000 per transaction and CAD 50,000 per week, and wires go up to CAD 1,000,000.

Newton Crypto Ltd. became a CIRO investment dealer member on March 18, 2026, and it also sits on the CSA list (original decision August 15, 2022). It is a FINTRAC-registered money services business too. Newton says over 80% of assets are stored offline in cold storage and that it maintains crypto asset insurance. It is a CIPF member for cash, but crypto is not protected by CIPF.

Newton's interface remains one of the cleanest in Canadian crypto: modern, casual in tone, and simple enough that a first-time buyer can fund via Interac and place a trade within minutes. The iOS app is rated 4.62 across 24,473 Canadian App Store ratings, and Google Play shows 4.3 from 8.14K reviews.

Newton: Pros And Cons

Visit Newton Read My Newton Review

Bitcoin Well: An Available Option

A Canadian company that delivers to your own wallet, the same non-custodial model VirgoCX now uses. That is the nearest fit for VirgoCX users.

Bitcoin Well takes Interac e-Transfer on its online portal with no separate fee, because the spread is the charge. You can also feed cash into 160+ Bitcoin ATMs, with ATM fees shown before the transaction, or buy with cash vouchers on a Lite Account at a 4.0% spread, up to CAD 4,950 per day (the buy page also says CAD 3,000 per day). Selling to your bank carries no stated withdrawal fee.

Bitcoin Well Canada Ltd. of Edmonton, Alberta is a FINTRAC-registered money services business. It is not on the CSA list of authorized platforms and not on the banned list. Its parent, Bitcoin Well Inc., trades on the TSX Venture Exchange (BTCW). The service is non-custodial: bitcoin is delivered straight to a self-custody wallet, so there is no exchange balance to lose.

Bitcoin Well: Pros And Cons

Visit Bitcoin Well Read My Bitcoin Well Review

Is Newton A Good Replacement For VirgoCX?

On the verified facts, Newton is a workable replacement for most Canadians who used VirgoCX, within the limits laid out above. It does not copy everything VirgoCX offered, so check your own use case before you move money. The comparison table at the top of this page lays out status, fees and coins side by side.