Buy Bitcoin in Canada
Bitcoin made simple
Everything you need to know about Bitcoin and how to start investing in it.
Current Price
This one’s easy: the price the coin or token is trading at right now.
$143,917.67 CAD
-$608.96 (-0.42%) past 24 hours
- Market Cap
The value of the entire supply of a specific cryptocurrency or token. It’s calculated by taking the price of a coin/token and multiplying it by the total number of that coin/token in circulation.
- $2,873,006,373,266.25
- Circulating Supply
The amount of coins that have already been created and are available in the market.
- $19,795,587
- Total Supply
The total amount of coins currently in existence minus any coins that have been burned or removed from circulation.
- $19,795,587
- 24h low - high range
Low-high range over the past 24 hours.
- $140,529.57 - $146,632.30
- 7 day low - high range
Low-high range over the past 7 days.
- $128,566.41 - $149,402.78
- 52 week low - high range
Low-high range over the past 52 weeks.
- $50,220.09 - $156,250.82
Bitcoin 101
Established in 2009, bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency. It’s the world’s oldest, most popular, and most expensive crypto. As of May 2021, it’s the largest cryptocurrency in the world by market capitalization.
Unlike traditional currency, bitcoin is created, distributed, traded, and stored within a decentralized ledger system known as blockchain. Think of a blockchain like a giant spreadsheet that records every bitcoin transaction, ever — only it’s super secure and anonymous.
There’s a finite number of bitcoins in the world. That number is 21 million.
New bitcoins are released into circulation by mining — a process that uses heavy computing power to solve cryptography puzzles and verify transactions. So far, there are 18.7 million in circulation. Experts estimate that the final bitcoin will be mined by 2140.
Other coins
Why Wealthsimple Crypto?
Wealthsimple Crypto lets you buy and sell cryptocurrencies all in one easy-to-use app. And as Canada’s first regulated crypto platform, you can trust that your coins are in good hands. How simple is it?
- Sign up in minutes right from your phone or laptop
- Start trading crypto with as little as $1
- No account minimums
- No clunky dashboards — just one super simple app
- Best of all: you don’t need to be an expert in crypto or blockchain to get started
What can you do with Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is pretty much the closest thing we have to digital cash (although other cryptocurrencies are catching up.)
There’s a growing number of online (and IRL) retailers who accept bitcoin as payment. And El Salvador recently became the first country to recognize bitcoin as legal tender.
That said, there’s still a good number of people who buy bitcoin as a speculative investment. Translation: they buy BTC in hopes that the value will skyrocket in the future.
Is Bitcoin a smart investment?
Crypto carries risks — but generally speaking, our advice (regardless of whether you’re investing in Bitcoin or stocks) is: never invest what you can’t afford to lose. The smartest way to grow your money long term is with a diversified, low-cost portfolio that tracks the market.
How we keep your Bitcoin safe
As Canada’s first regulated crypto trading platform, we’re required to meet certain requirements — like using only qualified custodians (like Coinbase Custody) for cold storage.
FYI: Wealthsimple Crypto is not an exchange itself. Instead, we work with multiple exchanges to give you the best Bitcoin prices.
And to make sure your coins are extra protected, we’ve partnered with Coincover for an extra layer of security.
If you’re holding crypto outside of Wealthsimple, that’s no problem. You can safely transfer your Bitcoin to your Wealthsimple account in just a few taps.
Other cryptos to explore
More info about Bitcoin
Want to take a deeper dive? Check out these articles about Bitcoin and the world of crypto.
What is Cryptocurrency?
Robert Stevens
Cryptocurrencies are a type of digital asset that run on blockchain technology. Here’s everything you need to know.
What is Blockchain? The Ultimate Guide
Robert Stevens
A quick primer on the building blocks needed to understand the basics of blockchain
Ready to get started?
Download the Wealthsimple Trade app, create your account, and start trading Bitcoin with just $1. It’s that simple.
FAQs
Bitcoin is the origin of blockchain technology and the first-ever cryptocurrency. It was introduced to the world in 2009 by an anonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. After Nakamoto put forward the idea for bitcoin, a team of (non-anonymous) developers continued work on it and furthered its development.
Bitcoin is now the #1 cryptocurrency in the world by market capitalization.
As the first-ever cryptocurrency, bitcoin has seen its share of drastic ups and downs. In July 2010, one bitcoin would cost you $0.0008 — compare that to the all-time high of $64,863 per coin in April 2021.
Unlike traditional money, we can’t “just print more” bitcoin. There are only 21 million bitcoins that will ever exist in the world — 18.7 million of which have already been discovered.
When bitcoin first hit the world (er, internet?) it gained popularity on gaming sites and the dark web as a way to make anonymous purchases. Now that it’s more mainstream, there’s a growing number of retailers who accept bitcoin alongside fiat (traditional) currencies as a form of payment.
Yep! When you open a Wealthsimple Crypto account, you can get started with anywhere from $1 to $1,500 instantly.
Generally speaking, the CRA treats cryptocurrencies as a commodity. Here’s what they say:
Any income from transactions involving cryptocurrency is generally treated as business income or as a capital gain, depending on the circumstances. Similarly, if earnings qualify as business income or as a capital gain then any losses are treated as business losses or capital losses.
Always keep solid records of any Bitcoin transactions. If you use Wealthsimple Crypto to buy or sell cryptocurrencies, we’ll generate some of those tax documents for you.
Bitcoin’s current market cap is $2,873,006,373,266.00.
The current price for Bitcoin in Canadian dollars is $143,917.67.
Buying Bitcoin with Wealthsimple is, well, simple. The first thing you need to do is open and fund a Crypto account in the Wealthsimple Trade app. You can connect your bank account and add up to $1,500 instantly.
From there, follow these steps:
- Tap the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of your screen
- Type in Bitcoin
- Tap Buy
- Enter the dollar value of cryptocurrency you'd like to buy and tap Continue
- Review the order details and tap Confirm order
You can choose between two different order types when buying Bitcoin. A market order lets you buy or sell crypto immediately at the best available price at the time. A limit order lets you buy or sell crypto at a specific price or better.
You can withdraw funds from the cash balance in your Crypto account and move those funds to your bank account. Withdrawals typically take around 2 - 3 business days.
A crypto wallet — often called a “hot wallet” — is a location for holding crypto “on-chain” (i.e. linked to the blockchain versus off-chain cold storage.) Many users use wallet applications to help them manage their blockchain addresses, since each chain uses its own addresses.