Shakepay Review 2026: Free Bitcoin Rewards and No-Fee e-Transfers for Canadians Who Don’t Care About Crypto

Last updated: July 2026 | Author: Harold Phillips

Key Takeaways

• Shakepay is a Canadian app for buying, selling, and sending Bitcoin and Ethereum, with genuinely free Interac e-Transfers in and out, no monthly fee, no minimum balance
• Referral code NJ0MTTK gets you and me $20 cash each, once you buy $100 or more of BTC or ETH within 30 days of signing up
• ShakingSats gives you a small amount of free Bitcoin every day just for opening the app and shaking your phone. No purchase, no deposit required
• The optional Shakepay Card pays cashback in Bitcoin on everyday purchases and carries no monthly fee of its own

What Is Shakepay?

Shakepay is a Montreal-based crypto app that's been around since 2015, which in crypto years makes it practically ancient. It lets Canadians buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin and Ethereum, and it moves Canadian dollars in and out through Interac e-Transfer at no cost. That last part matters more than it sounds like it should. Most crypto platforms nickel-and-dime you on deposits and withdrawals. Shakepay doesn't.

I want to be upfront about something before I go any further: I'm not a crypto guy. I don't own much of it, I don't trade it, and I don't have opinions about where the price is headed next quarter. My partner will tell you I have opinions about literally everything else (phone plans, banking fees, the correct way to load a dishwasher), but crypto has never been one of them. So this review isn't coming from someone trying to convince you Bitcoin is the future. It's coming from someone who found an app that hands out a bit of free money and figured that was worth writing about.

Shakepay's whole personality is built around two things: the free daily Bitcoin (called ShakingSats) and the prepaid Shakepay Card, which pays cashback in Bitcoin on regular purchases. Neither requires you to actually understand crypto to benefit from them. You open the app, you shake your phone, you get a small amount of Bitcoin. You use the card at the grocery store, you get a bit back. That's the whole pitch, and it's honestly the reason I still have the app installed.

Shakepay Referral Code: NJ0MTTK

When you sign up with my code, both of us get $20 cash, deposited straight into your Shakepay account. The catch, and there's always a catch, is that you need to buy $100 or more of Bitcoin or Ethereum within 30 days of creating your account for the bonus to trigger. You don't need to hold onto it. You just need to make the purchase.

This code works year-round. There's no expiry date buried in the fine print, and I'm not going to pretend there is one to create urgency that doesn't exist.

Pricing and Plans

Shakepay doesn't really have "plans" the way a subscription service does. It's free to open an account, and the optional card is free to carry. Where the actual cost shows up is in the spread (the difference between the buy price and sell price on trades), which functions like a built-in transaction fee even though Shakepay doesn't advertise it as one.

I'll flag this early because it's easy to miss: there's no interest paid on your CAD or crypto balance sitting in the app. If you're the type who wants your emergency fund earning something while it waits, this isn't the tool for that. It's a spend-and-shake app, not a savings account.

Pros and Cons

Shakepay vs Wealthsimple

Wealthsimple is the obvious comparison for most Canadians, since a lot of us already have a Wealthsimple account for investing and added crypto there almost as an afterthought. I've used both, and they're solving slightly different problems.

If you want one app that does crypto, stocks, RRSPs, and a savings account, Wealthsimple is the better all-around platform. I've written about that separately, with the full breakdown of Wealthsimple's fees and account types, if that's the direction you're leaning. But if what you actually want is the free Bitcoin trickle and a cashback card that doesn't cost you anything to carry, Shakepay does that one thing better, mostly because it's the only thing it does.

My Experience with Shakepay

I signed up for Shakepay in early 2024, mostly out of curiosity after a coworker mentioned the free Bitcoin thing during a lunch that had nothing to do with finance. I didn't buy anything for the first few weeks. I just shook the app once a day out of habit, the same way I check the TTC app before leaving my apartment, and watched a tiny amount of Bitcoin accumulate in the background.

The identity verification took about a day and a half for me, which is standard for anything regulated in Canada. I've had worse waits opening a chequing account. Once I was verified, moving money in was simple. I sent an Interac e-Transfer from my Simplii account, it landed in minutes, and I didn't pay a cent to do it. That's rare enough in the crypto space that it's worth calling out on its own.

Here's where I have to be honest about what ShakingSats actually is, because I think some of the marketing around it oversells the amount. The daily reward is genuinely small — some days it's a few cents worth of Bitcoin, occasionally more during promotional periods. It is not a way to build meaningful wealth by shaking your phone. It's a nice little habit loop, and over a year and a half it's added up to more free Bitcoin than I expected, but if you're picturing anything close to a real income stream, recalibrate that expectation now.

The card is the part I actually use for real value. I put my daily coffee and No Frills groceries on it for about four months last year as a test, and the Bitcoin cashback landed reliably every time. I eventually stopped using it as my everyday card, mostly because I like my existing points setup better for larger purchases, but it stayed in my wallet as the card I use for smaller stuff where the cashback percentage matters less than convenience.

My biggest gripe, and I'll say this plainly: there's no way to earn interest on money sitting in the app. If you keep a CAD balance parked there between trades, it's just sitting, doing nothing, the way cash under a mattress does nothing. I moved my Shakepay balance to essentially zero for that reason, converting straight through and pulling profits or holdings out via e-Transfer rather than letting anything idle. I remember mentioning this to my partner while we were up at the cottage last July, spotty WiFi and all, and their response was some version of "so it's like a phone plan, but for Bitcoin, and you still found something to optimize." Fair.

I'm not going to pretend I've stress-tested this against every competitor. I haven't done a full comparison of Shakepay's trading spread against Newton's fee structure recently, and if you're moving meaningful volume rather than casual amounts, that's worth checking yourself before you commit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Shakepay available in my province?

Yes, Shakepay is available across Canada, in every province and territory. You'll need to complete identity verification regardless of where you live, which is standard for any regulated Canadian crypto platform.

How does the Shakepay referral code work?

Sign up using code NJ0MTTK or through my referral link, then buy $100 or more of Bitcoin or Ethereum within 30 days of opening your account. Once that purchase clears, both you and I get $20 cash deposited into our Shakepay accounts.

Is Shakepay worth it in 2026?

For the free Bitcoin and the no-fee e-Transfers alone, yes, I'd say it's worth having installed even if you never actively trade. If you're looking for a full investing platform with registered accounts and interest-bearing cash, you'll want something broader alongside it, not instead of it.

Do I need to understand crypto to use Shakepay?

No. That's genuinely the appeal of it for someone like me. You don't need a trading strategy to benefit from ShakingSats or the cashback card. You need an app on your phone and a habit of opening it.

Is ShakingSats actually worth doing every day?

It's worth doing because it costs you nothing, but don't expect it to be meaningful money on its own. Treat it as a small bonus layered on top of the card and the free e-Transfers, not as a reason to sign up by itself.

Is my money safe with Shakepay?

Canadian dollar balances aren't CDIC-insured the way a bank account is, since Shakepay is a crypto platform, not a bank. Your crypto holdings carry the same market risk any Bitcoin or Ethereum holding does. The value moves with the market, and that's true no matter which app you hold it in.

Does Shakepay charge any hidden fees?

There's no monthly account fee and no charge for the card. The main cost is the spread built into buy and sell prices, which isn't published as a flat percentage the way a bank fee would be. It's not hidden exactly, but it's also not front and centre.

What's the difference between Shakepay and Wealthsimple Crypto?

Shakepay only supports Bitcoin and Ethereum but adds ShakingSats and a cashback card that Wealthsimple doesn't have. Wealthsimple supports far more cryptocurrencies and pairs crypto with a full investing platform, registered accounts, and an interest-bearing cash account. They overlap on crypto but aren't really solving the same problem.

Final Verdict

I'd recommend Shakepay to almost anyone in Canada who wants a low-effort way to end up with a bit of free Bitcoin and a cashback card that costs nothing to carry, crypto opinions completely aside. You don't need to believe in Bitcoin as an investment to get value out of this one. I don't, and I still use it.

Where it falls short is anywhere close to being a full financial tool. No interest on idle cash, only two supported assets, and support that's email-only if something goes sideways. If you want one app for everything (crypto, stocks, savings, registered accounts), Wealthsimple covers more ground. If you want the specific combination of free daily Bitcoin, no-fee e-Transfers, and a cashback card, sign up with referral code NJ0MTTK at referralmaxxing.ca/go/shakepay and grab the $20 bonus once you make your first qualifying purchase.

For more ways to make your everyday accounts work harder without paying for the privilege, the banking and investment referral guide covers the rest of what I use.

• This article contains referral links. If you sign up using my code, I may receive a reward at no extra cost to you. I only recommend services I personally use.

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