Bitbuy

Is Bitbuy safe?

For a Canadian, Bitbuy is one of the safer places to buy crypto. In ten years we found no theft from its wallets, and the coins you buy are held in trust for you by two large US custodians under a dealer regulated by CIRO, Canada's investment industry regulator. The catches are small but real: its reserve reports stopped in 2023, and the company that runs it carries the 2020 wash-trading case of its sister brand Coinsquare.

We score Bitbuy 80/100, above Coinsquare and about level with the US crypto business of its new owner, Robinhood (79).

Who runs Bitbuy now?

Bitbuy started in 2016 and was bought by WonderFi, a Toronto-listed crypto company, in March 2022. WonderFi merged with Coinsquare and CoinSmart in July 2023, and Bitbuy's own trust centre now lists it as a trade name of Coinsquare Capital Markets Ltd. (CCML), the group's CIRO-regulated dealer. Bitbuy and Coinsquare therefore share one legal entity, one client agreement and one set of custodians.

On 1 June 2026 Robinhood Markets closed its purchase of WonderFi, a deal worth about C$250 million announced a year earlier. Robinhood says about 300,000 funded WonderFi customers joined it, that Bitbuy and Coinsquare "will become part of the Robinhood brand", and that Canadian customers will be invited to its app with a flat 0.5% fee per CAD trade. No closing date for Bitbuy has been announced. If you are asked to move, check which company holds your account afterwards; protection follows the legal entity, not the logo.

How Bitbuy holds your coins

This is Bitbuy's strongest point. The client account agreement says:

• coins you buy are held in trust for your benefit, in omnibus cold-storage accounts at Coinbase Custody Trust Company (regulated by New York's financial regulator) and BitGo Trust Company (South Dakota);
• the coins are beneficially owned by you, not by the company, and are recorded separately from CCML's own property;
• neither CCML nor the custodians may lend, pledge or use client coins in the business;
• a small share sits in a hot walletHot walletA crypto wallet connected to the internet, such as an app or an exchange's online wallet. It is convenient, but more exposed to hacking.More in the glossary run on Fireblocks software for withdrawals.

Bitbuy's 2023 reserve report found 97.59% of client crypto in cold storageCold storageKeeping crypto keys on a device or medium that is not connected to the internet, which protects them from most online attacks.More in the glossary. Trust wording plus an outside qualified custodian is the structure that would matter most if the company failed, and it is stronger than most exchanges offer.

Insurance is a weaker shield than the marketing suggests. The custodians' policies (the dealer's Coinsquare site cites a combined US$680 million) cover their own losses, and the agreement says there is no guarantee they will pay every claim. The Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF) covers the cash in your account up to C$1 million if CCML becomes insolvent. It does not cover crypto.

Proof of reserves that stopped in 2023

Bitbuy was the first Canadian platform to publish a proof of reservesProof of reservesA report in which a crypto exchange shows that it holds enough coins to cover all customer balances, ideally checked by an outside firm.More in the glossary, in 2019, and repeated it every year to 2023. Blockchain Intelligence Group, an analytics firm rather than an accounting firm, checked that wallets matched client balances 1:1 and measured the cold-storage share coin by coin. The page still shows the 2023 report as the latest, and the "total assets on platform" counter on its trust centre has not updated since 2024.

What fills the gap is audited accounts. WonderFi filed audited statements as a Toronto Stock Exchange company before the Robinhood deal, and Robinhood, listed on Nasdaq, now consolidates it. As a CIRO dealer, CCML is also audited by an independent CIRO-approved accounting firm. That is better than an exchange with nothing published, but a current reserve report would be better still.

The Coinsquare history

Bitbuy's own record is clean. We found no enforcement action against it and no entry on FINTRAC's public list of anti-money-launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary penalties. The company that now runs it has a past, though. In July 2020 the Ontario Securities Commission approved a settlement in which Coinsquare admitted reporting about 840,000 wash trades between July 2018 and December 2019, over 90% of its reported volume, misleading clients about it and retaliating against a whistleblower. Its chief executive and president resigned and paid penalties of C$1 million and C$900,000, and the OSC made the dealer company rebuild its board and compliance team before it could be registered.

None of this touched Bitbuy customers, who were with a separate company at the time. It is why legal record is Bitbuy's lowest factor after reserves.

How to use Bitbuy more safely

1. Turn on app-based two-factor authenticationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary, not SMS, and treat any call or message about moving your account to a "new Robinhood wallet" as phishing until you reach it from the official app.
2. Keep large amounts in your own wallet; the trust structure protects you in insolvency, not from a stolen login.
3. If you move to the Robinhood app, read the new client agreement: check the legal entity, the custodians and whether coins are still held in trust.
4. Do not count on CIPF for crypto. It only covers cash.

How we scored it

Security history (88) and custody (85) are Bitbuy's strongest factors: no known theft, and coins held in trust with two qualified custodians. Licensing (78) reflects a strict Canadian dealer regime but no licence abroad. Reserves (72) are the weakest, because the last proof of reservesProof of reservesA report in which a crypto exchange shows that it holds enough coins to cover all customer balances, ideally checked by an outside firm.More in the glossary is from 2023, and legal record (75) reflects the 2020 OSC case against the company that now runs it.