In a digital assets landscape cluttered with complexity, Aubrey Jesseau, CEO and founder of Beaver Bitcoin, has one clear goal: to make Bitcoin simple, secure, and accessible for Canadians.
Launched in July 2022 from Toronto, Beaver Bitcoin isn’t a typical exchange, it’s a Bitcoin-only, non-custodial platform that sends coins directly to your wallet for a flat 1.5% fee.
No hidden spreads, no middlemen, just bitcoin in your hands. Jesseau’s path from crypto dabbler to Bitcoin evangelist is a tale of curiosity, revelation, and determination, fueled by a mission to free Canadians from a sluggish, fax-machine-driven financial system.
Jesseau’s Bitcoin journey kicked off in 2016 while co-founding Buns, a Toronto startup with a popular app unrelated to bitcoin. “I’d heard a little bit about Bitcoin,” he recalls, “but a lot of people were talking about Ethereum.”
Rumors of someone making hundreds of millions on Ethereum lured him into the altcoin frenzy. Bitcoin piqued his interest, but the blocksize wars, a chaotic Reddit battle of “two sides brutally accusing each other of corruption and hijacking”, left him stumped.
“I couldn’t make heads or tails of it,” he admits. Swamped with startup duties, he thought Bitcoin seemed “split” and directionless.
Instead, he sampled the crypto buffet, Ethereum, Cardano, Ripple, without grasping Bitcoin’s unique edge. “I didn’t understand what made shi*coins [shi*],” he laughs.
The 2017 bull run brought modest gains, but the Christmas crash cooled his enthusiasm, sending him back to his product manager role at Buns. Still, Bitcoin lingered like an unscratched itch.
He dipped into various Bitcoin newsletters and Andreas Antonopoulos videos, but true clarity arrived in late 2019 early 2020.
After Buns folded around COVID’s onset, Jesseau read Saifedean Ammous’s The Bitcoin Standard. “I read the entire thing,” he says, “and had that moment where I was like, ‘Oh wow, Bitcoin is different. This could be absolutely huge for humanity.’”
Jobless in a lockdown-ravaged economy, applying to shrinking Toronto tech firms, his focus sharpened. “All I can think about is Bitcoin,” he recalls. “All I care about is Bitcoin.” That obsession sparked a crusade.
Building Beaver: A Bitcoin-Only Vision
Frustrated with clunky, altcoin-laden platforms when onboarding family and friends, Jesseau spotted a gap. “The platform that I want to onboard my family members and friends to doesn’t exist,” he realized.
“I just want a pure Bitcoin-only, simple user experience.” In 2021, with his college roommate (now CTO) and other pals, he began crafting Beaver Bitcoin, launching officially in 2022.
The early days were a scramble. Jesseau and his team were designing the platform, cold-calling providers, and grappling with a fundamental question: “How does a Bitcoin exchange even work?”
“None of us had launched a Bitcoin exchange before,” Jesseau confesses. “We didn’t know what we were doing.”
To bridge this gap, he immersed himself in podcasts by Swan Bitcoin’s Cory Klippsten, who shared insights on launching Swan, and met with sales reps from various platforms to learn the nuts and bolts of running an exchange.
Slowly, they pieced it together, finding the right partners along the way. Through it all, three guiding stars emerged: simplicity, security, and self-custody.
Beaver opted for a non-custodial model—your keys, your coins—partly to dodge Canada’s steep custodial regulations, but primarily because “it’s just the better way to do it,” Jesseau insists.
His father’s ordeal sealed the deal. On a custodial exchange, his dad faced constant price charts and a tempting sell button. After a crash-predicting email, he considered swing trading.
“I told him that’s such a terrible idea,” Jesseau laughs. “We got him out of there and into a wallet.” Beaver eliminates such distractions, championing a buy-and-hold ethos.
Trust, Fees, and a DCA Hook
Gaining traction was tough. “Trust was a big one,” Jesseau says. “Convincing Canadians to send hundreds of dollars to a service that nobody’s ever heard of before” felt daunting.
Their edge? Canada’s first fully automated dollar-cost averaging (DCA) buy straight from your bank. Despite a higher 1.5% fee compared to established players, the novelty hooked users.
“It was just enough to get us attention,” he explains. People tried it, saw bitcoin land in their wallets, and trust grew. Within weeks, instant buys took over 99% of the volume, but DCA had opened the door.
Other hurdles loomed such as crafting 40-page FINTRAC compliance policies which was “an enormous amount of work,” Jesseau admits. “You just have to do it.”
A year in, they halved the DCA fee, added instant buys, and introduced Beaver Plaid, a concierge service for large purchases. Today, big buys drive the most volume, a hard-earned trust badge.
Simplicity for Newbies
For beginners, Beaver Bitcoin simplifies wallet selection by recommending Blue Wallet as a starting point. Known for its open-source, Bitcoin-only, and user-friendly design, it’s a great choice.
However, Blue Wallet is by no means the only suggestion; Beaver encourages users to explore various wallets to understand their tradeoffs, offering a “Best Bitcoin Wallets” guide that covers everything from mobile wallets to hardware solutions like Jade and Coldcard.
Education is at the heart of Beaver’s mission, with detailed guides and free specialist consultations to help users make informed choices. As Aubrey noted, “You don’t need a $200 hardware wallet for your first $100 buy in Bitcoin”.
As users learn more about Bitcoin, they often feel more confident upgrading to a hardware wallet, but Beaver ensures the initial step into self-custody is approachable, not intimidating.
What’s Next: Sales and Beyond
In 2025, Beaver is building its own Bitcoin infrastructure to batch transactions and enable easier bitcoin sales. “Up until now, we’ve only been a one-way on-ramp,” Jesseau says. “But life happens, people want to sell, so we’re going to give them the ability to do that.”
No more email workarounds, just seamless service straight from the Beaver app. Other plans? “Nothing we’re ready to announce yet,” he teases.
Canada remains the focus, with no expansion plans yet.
Jesseau’s jazzed about Bitcoin’s momentum, banks exploring custody, a less hostile U.S. stance, but its real power thrills him: “You can send a million dollars within 10 minutes, no permission, guaranteed final settlement. It doesn’t even compare to wires going through fax-machine clearing banks.”
Jesseau’s advice to aspiring founders is direct and passionate: “If you feel that fire, you’ve got to go for it.” He recognizes the unique moment in Bitcoin’s evolution, noting, “It’s never been easier, or harder, with fierce competition.”
When Beaver Bitcoin launched, “Canada didn’t need another Bitcoin platform,” yet their fresh, Bitcoin-only approach carved out a distinct niche in a crowded market. For Jesseau, this is proof that determination and a clear vision can break through.
The journey comes with its hurdles. Even after a year of Bitcoin-only newsletters, clients still ask, “Have you heard of XRP?” Jesseau laughs, “There’s still so much work to do.”
This ongoing need for education isn’t a setback, it’s an opportunity. He sees it as a call to action for founders to not just build businesses, but to inform and empower their communities.
Through Beaver, Jesseau and his team are simplifying bitcoin ownership for Canadians, helping them secure their financial futures one smash buy at a time. For Canadians ready to take control, Beaver Bitcoin offers the path forward.
