Custodial vs non-custodial
A custodial platform holds your coins and shows you a balance; you own a claim on the company. A non-custodial platform sells you coins and delivers them to a wallet whose keys only you hold; you own the asset. The difference is invisible on a good day and decisive on a bad one — every major loss Canadians have suffered in crypto, from QuadrigaCX to FTX, was a custody failure, not a blockchain failure.
What Canadian regulation says
Two regimes apply. FINTRAC registers anyone dealing in virtual currency as a money services business and governs identity checks, record-keeping and reporting — whether or not the business holds coins. The provincial securities regulators (CSA) separately regulate crypto trading platforms that hold client assets or offer crypto contracts, requiring qualified custodians and pre-registration undertakings. A non-custodial MSB that delivers coins at settlement falls under the first regime and does not take on the custody the second regime exists to police. Non-custodial therefore does not mean unregulated — it means regulated for conduct rather than for holding your assets.
How the TokenNest model works
- Verify once — ID and address; about five minutes. Businesses add incorporation documents.
- Add your wallet address — the destination for everything you buy, confirmed with a small test transfer the first time.
- Fund in CAD — Interac e-Transfer ($3,000 CAD per transfer for individuals, $25,000 CAD for businesses) or wire.
- Buy at a firm price — one spread on a stated mid, no added fees. The price you accept is the price you pay.
- Coins arrive in your wallet — the same business day, usually within minutes of funds clearing. TokenNest never holds them. Selling runs in reverse, with CAD to your bank by Interac e-Transfer, wire or EFT.
Choosing and securing a wallet
A hardware wallet (Ledger, Trezor, Coldcard) keeps keys on a device that never touches the internet — right for anything you would mind losing. A reputable mobile wallet is fine for spending amounts. Either way: write the recovery phrase on paper or steel, store two copies in separate places, never photograph it or type it into a website, and test a small send and restore before moving real value. A business should use a multi-signature wallet so no single person can move funds.
Risks and disclosures
Responsibility moves to you. Lose the recovery phrase and no one — not TokenNest, not the wallet maker — can restore your coins. Send to the wrong address or network and the transfer is final. You cannot trade on margin or earn yield on idle balances, because both require a company to hold and reuse your assets. In exchange you remove the platform from the list of things that can fail: no withdrawal freezes, no bankruptcy claims, no undisclosed lending of your coins. Start with the Getting Started guide.
Common questions
The platform sells and delivers coins but never holds them: every purchase settles to a wallet the client controls, the same day. It is still a FINTRAC-registered MSB with full identity, record-keeping and reporting duties.
You do — only you. TokenNest never generates, stores or has access to your keys. That is why a receiving address is required before your first purchase and why a lost recovery phrase cannot be restored by us.
Nothing. Your coins are in your wallet, on-chain, and were never on the platform's balance sheet. Any purchase not yet settled would be refunded from segregated client funds under FINTRAC and Revenu Québec obligations.