Uphold Review

Uphold's motto is you can trade "Anything to Anything" — from crypto to gold to stocks and forex. But are they legit? Read this review to learn more.

	Trade from "Anything to Anything" in Just 10 Seconds Learn More
	Overall Score	4.0
	Cryptocurrency Trading	4.0
	Minimum Deposit	5.0
	Customer Service	3.0
	Commissions and Fees	3.5
	Ease of Use	4.5

5-point scale (the higher, the better)

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Pros and Cons

• Trade between assets classes
• $10 minimum
• 184 countries

• Trading fees can be higher
• Equities not available in US

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Bottom Line

Unique platform that lets you trade directly across a wide variety of assets

Conversions and transfers are a standard, yet annoying part of trading.

Whether you want to transfer assets between classes or platforms, the process is tedious — and expensive.

Enter: Uphold, who claim to let you trade between:

• 200+ cryptocurrencies
  
• ~50 stocks
  
• 37 national currencies
  
• And 4 precious metals

Can Uphold deliver?

Read on to discover the pros and cons, fees to watch out for, and more.

What Is Uphold?

Founded in 2015 and based in the UK, Uphold is an exchange and remittance service. Or, as they call themselves, "a multi-asset digital money platform."

Their goal is to make exchanging money cheaper, easier, and more flexible than doing it at a bank.

Uphold is also commission-free. However, they do acknowledge that they charge a variable spread on transactions, meaning using their service isn't truly free. (This is usually the case for similar services, but kudos to them for transparency.)

What sets them apart from competitors is the range of assets and currencies they support. This includes a variety of traditional investments, fiat currencies, and crypto.

Uphold also offers:

• Trading accounts
  
• A rewards debit card that lets you spend your assets
  
• An automated trading system called AutoPilot
  
• The ability to send funds to people all over the world, including employees and businesses

Uphold is best for:

• Investors wanting to buy and sell crypto, stocks, forex, and precious metals in one place.
  
• Crypto investors wanting plenty of coin options and reasonable fees.

How Uphold Works?

What makes Uphold remarkable is that you can trade seamlessly between different asset classes, like from USD to Bitcoin, or from Bitcoin to gold.

There aren't many platforms that offer such a wide range of assets. Most focus on traditional investments or cryptocurrency, but rarely both.

Of those that do offer multiple asset classes, they usually lack the ability to trade between them directly. In most cases, you'll have to convert to a fiat currency or stablecoin to complete your transaction.

With Uphold, trading directly between asset classes comes with two big perks:

1. Convenience. Having to exchange your gold for USD to buy Ethereum, or even transferring it off of one platform and onto another, can be tedious and time-consuming.

2. Cost. On other platforms, you'd be charged for bank transfers, withdrawals, and trading commissions.

Uphold only charges a variable spread on each transaction, debit/credit card deposit fees, and transaction fees if the amount transacted is below $100 in value.

It's easy to get your money onto the platform too. You can make deposits directly from your bank, card, or crypto wallet.

And remember, this service works for several national currencies as well. While you might pay as much as 13% on round-trip fees for foreign currency exchange at a bank, the spread between major fiat currencies like EUR, USD, and GBP on Uphold is typically 0.2%.^[1] (Even PayPal reportedly charges from 3% - 9%.)

What Are The Pros and Cons?

Will Uphold make trading easier for you? Review the pros and cons to get an overview of Uphold's platform.

Pros:

• Trade different asset classes in one place
  
• Good cryptocurrency selection
  
• No commissions
  
• Reasonable spread fees
  
• Automated trading system

Cons:

• Spreads can vary
  
• Mobile app could be better
  
• Fees on debit/credit card deposit

What Securities Does Uphold Support?

Uphold supports the exchange of an impressively wide range of securities. Let's take a look at what they offer.

Fiat Currencies:

Cryptocurrencies:

Uphold also supports a range of lesser-known cryptocurrencies, including the following:

• Aave, Axie Infinity, Balancer, Basic Attention Token, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Chia, Compound, Curve Dao Token, Dash, Elrond, Enjin, The Graph, Maker, OMG Network, Orchid, Ren, Synthetix, SushiSwap, UMA, Universal Protocol Token, VCOIN, Wrapped Bitcoin, 0x, Cosmos, Casper, Decred, Digibyte, EOS, Fantom, Filecoin, Flow, Hedera HashGraph, Helium, IOTA, Terra, Nano, NEO, Polygon, The Sandbox, Thorchain, Serum, Theta, VeChain, NEM, Stellar Lumens, Tezos, Zilliqa, Universal Bitcoin, Dai, TrueUSD, Universal Euro, Universal US Dollar, XDC Network

Equities:
Equities aren't available for trade in the U.S. or Europe, but for those who do have access, they support a range of stocks including:

• Apple, Adobe, AMD, Amazon, Boeing, Alibaba, Bank of America, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Berkshire Hathaway, Citigroup, Comcast, Cisco, Danaher, Disney, and many more

Precious Metals:
You can trade precious metals and minerals, including:

• Universal Gold, Silver, Gold (Legacy), Palladium, and Platinum

Environmental Assets:
Support the environment with these dedicated tokens:

• Bitcoin Zero, Universal Carbon

Where is Uphold Available?

Uphold is available in over 184 countries worldwide. Their services vary by country due to a number of reasons, including national regulations. They don't support equities trading in the U.S. or Europe.

Their fees also differ depending on region. Take your location into consideration when choosing whether or not to use the platform.^[2]

Uphold Features

Review Uphold's features below to decide whether the platform is a good fit for what you need.

Debit Card

Thanks to Uphold's partnership with Mastercard, you can pay real-time with assets other than cash, including crypto, precious metals, and even foreign currencies—without costly foreign transaction fees.

Uphold's debit card is accepted all over the world, wherever Mastercard is, and you can use it in stores and at ATMs, as well as online.

Plus, there's an additional 2% cash back whenever you spend crypto, and 1% when you spend cash.^[3]

It works with over 200 cryptocurrencies, 37 national currencies, and precious metals, including gold, silver, palladium, and platinum.

Automated Trading

Uphold's AutoPilot system makes it easy to employ the investing strategy known as dollar cost averaging.

The idea is that it's nearly impossible to beat the market, so it's better not to try. Instead, you schedule purchases of your favored investment at regular intervals to remove the human element from your trading patterns.

Financial Services

Uphold offers services you won't find at most exchanges or financial institutions.

• Instant transfers: You can transfer money to friends and family in many countries.
  
• Employer payments: You could choose to receive your paycheck in cryptocurrency.
  
• Free withdrawals: You can withdraw your money without fees and securely transfer it to your bank account, private wallet, or another exchange.

Mobile App

Uphold offers a free mobile app for Android and iOS. The interface is the same as their desktop site, so it's easy to start monitoring your portfolio. You also have some notable features:

• Two-Click Transactions: You can buy a security easily by clicking "transact," choosing your funding method, and completing your order.
  
• From and To Interface: You can deposit money straight from your bank account or card and buy the asset you want.
  
• Up-To-The-Minute Market Data: You can see 5 decimals on the latest market prices.

Mobile Wallet

Uphold offers a mobile wallet to Android and iOS users. You can use it to access your assets away from your computer. They won't store your secret keys, so you must enter your confidential phrase to log in.

Fees to Look out for

Uphold is refreshingly upfront about their fees.

They offer a commission-free exchange but charge a variable spread on transactions, depending on your trading asset, location, and market conditions.

The spread will increase proportionately in times of increased market volatility.

Here's a look at the spreads for various tradable assets.^[4]

*Note: Spreads vary by coin. Lower-liquidity coins like XRP, ZIL, and DOGE may have higher spreads.

In addition to the spread, a $0.99 transaction fee will be charged if the amount transacted is below $100 in value with a few exceptions, such as:

• Transactions made using the Uphold Debit Card
  
• Automated transactions (recurring / limit orders)
  
• The exchange of BAT from a Brave Browser-linked account to fiat.

There are No:

• Bank Deposit Fees
  
• Withdrawal Fees
  
• Trading Commissions

While Uphold does not charge fees for bank deposits or withdrawals, the platform does charge fees on deposits that are made via a debit or credit card.

They charge separate fees for their business accounts, which are listed in detail here.

Minimum Deposit

Uphold's minimum deposit of $10 makes it easy for anyone to get started using the platform. Investment minimums start at $1, but the account funding and withdrawal minimums and limits vary.^[5]

Funding and Withdrawal Minimums and Limits

Customer Service

The customer service at Uphold isn't its strongest feature. Their customer reviews on TrustPilot vary from very positive to very negative.

Many people have complained about having their account flagged or their withdrawal placed on hold.

This could be a red flag, especially if you're new to crypto investing. However, it is common for crypto exchanges to receive complaints. Popular crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase have similar reviews.

If you decide to sign up, you can get help with your Uphold account from their customer service department:

• Email: You can submit a support request through their website, or email them at support@Uphold.com.
  
• Social media: You send them a tweet or direct message on their Twitter @AskUphold.
  
• FAQs: You can search their FAQ section to answer common questions.

Security

You'll be happy to know that Uphold uses a variety of security measures to ensure the safety of your assets and information.

Uphold is a FinCEN Registered Money Services Business (MSB) in the U.S. and an EMD Agent of an Electronic Money Issuer regulated by the FCA in the United Kingdom.

• KYC and AML compliance: identity verification helps ensure the safety of your money
  
• Two-Factor Authentication: keeps unwanted visitors out of your account
  
• Encryption: to protect your data
  
• 24/7 Security: to monitor for threats at all times
  
• Bug Bounty: if they miss something, they find out before it's exploited

Additionally, their Transparency page gives detailed, up-to-date information on the assets in their reserve, their obligations, and transaction volume.

Ease Of Use

Uphold's intuitive features make buying and selling different asset classes easy.

Their simple To and From Interface lets you use many funding methods to purchase assets. You can also choose from these various methods to transfer money to many countries.

You could transfer your gold holdings to crypto or your crypto holdings to gold. With other exchanges, this would require selling your gold for fiat currency. Transferring your fiat currency to a crypto exchange. Then using your fiat currency to buy crypto.

Uphold removes the middleman and puts many different types of assets in one place.

Education

You can learn more about trading and cryptocurrency with some of Uphold's educational offerings.

• Cryptionary: You can learn about the unique words used in cryptocurrency.
  
• Blog: Their blog answers common cryptocurrency questions with detailed articles.
  
• Email Newsletter: Uphold sends out a daily newsletter called Unboxed with the latest crypto news.

How To Open An Uphold Account

Getting started with Uphold only takes a few minutes. You'll:

1. Select an Individual or Business account
   
2. Enter information like your email, password, and address
   
3. Enter your legal name, date of birth, and phone number
   
4. Verify your new account by email

Note: You must verify your identity before funding your account. You would need an address, government-issued ID, and a photo of yourself with your ID. But this process could take as little as 2 minutes.

Uphold vs Coinbase: How Do They Compare?

Coinbase is one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges. How does it compare to Uphold?

Uphold and Coinbase offer similar services, but several differences are worth considering. The biggest is Uphold's promise to let you trade between asset classes.

This may not appeal to you if you are only interested in trading crypto. But, if you've got some of your investments in stocks, some in gold, and some in cryptocurrency, this could be a game-changer. You can likely save money on Uphold by reducing the number of transactions it would take to trade from one to the other.

Coinbase also charges higher fees on crypto transactions.

On Uphold, crypto traders will just pay the spread for their transactions, which ranges between 0.8% to 1.2% on major cryptocurrencies.

On Coinbase, you'll pay a transaction fee (a flat fee or 1.49%), a spread (.50%), and a potential third fee depending on the purchase method you choose (1.49% - 3.99%). Since the first two fees add up to roughly 2%, even at the lowest rates, you'll be paying higher fees on Coinbase than on Uphold.

		CoinbaseeToroGeminiRobinhood
	Uphold	Coinbase
	SPECIAL OFFER Trade from "Anything to Anything" in Just 10 Seconds - Learn More	SPECIAL OFFER Earn $5 in bitcoin on your first trade on Coinbase - Learn More
	Benefits and Features
Stock Trading	50 U.S. stocks (equities trading not available in US and UK)	No
Options Trading	No	No
Cryptocurrency Trading	Yes
Minimum Deposit	$10	$2
Cryptocurrencies Supported	Over 200	170
Countries Supported	184	Over 100
Fiat Currencies Supported	USD, EUR, GBP, AED, ARS, AUD, BRL, CAD, CHF, CNY CZK, DKK, HKD, HRK, HUF, ILS, INR, JPY, KES, MXN, NOK, NZD, PHP, PLN, RON, SEK, SGD	USD, GBP, EUR
Digital Wallet	Yes	Yes
Transaction Fee	$0 (Transactions above $100); $0.99 (Transactions below $100)	Greater of Minimum Flat Fees or Variable Fees (1.49%+) by Location and Payment Method. Minimum Flat Fees: < $10: $0.99 $10.01 - $25: $1.49 $25.01 - $50: $1.99 $50.01 - $200: $2.99
Copy Trading	No	No
Limit Orders	Yes	No
Margin Trading	No	No
Spread	0.8% - 1.2% for cryptocurrencies; 1.0% for U.S equities; 0.2% for fiat currencies; 3% for precious metals	0.50%
Crypto Loans	Yes, through partner SALT Lending	Invitation only
Bank Account Purchase Fee	No	1.49%
Debit Card Purchase Fee	2.49%	3.99%
Wallet Purchase Fee	No	1.49%
Credit Transaction Fee	3.99%	2%
Mobile App	Yes	Yes
ACH Transfer Fee	No	No
Wire Transfer Fee	$0	$10 ($25 outgoing)
Crypto Conversion Fee	No	up to 2%
SEPA Bank Transfer Fee	No	Free (€0.15 out)
Other Fees	Network fees when you withdraw to external crypto wallets (varies)	Instant Card Withdrawal: up to 1.5% + minimum fee of $0.55
Anonymity	No	No
Biometric Login	Yes	Yes
Cold Storage	Yes	Yes
Maximum Trading Amount	$25,000 per trade with a daily limit of $100,000 USD	Unlimited
Two-Factor Authentication	Yes	SMS or Google Authenticator
Withdrawal Limit	$10,000 / day for US ACH transfers; €50,000 / day for Euro SEPA bank transfers; £25,000 / day for British FPS transfers	$50,000 / day
	Trade from "Anything to Anything" in Just 10 Seconds Buy Cryptocurrency Buy Stocks	Earn $5 in bitcoin on your first trade on Coinbase Buy and Sell Cryptocurrency Learn Crypto, Earn Crypto
Coinbase: Pricing information from published website as of 04/13/2021.

Bottom Line

While Uphold doesn't have the lowest prices of any exchange, they do provide a convenient service to those working with multiple asset classes. And especially for those trading between multiple national currencies.

One of the goals of crypto was to remove borders from money, and Uphold seems to be working toward that ideal, even rewarding you for spending crypto at merchants in real-time with their debit card.

You may find better options if you are planning to limit yourself to a specific set or type of investments, but if your needs are many and varied, Uphold may be what you're looking for.

Uphold Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency investing within the EU/UK (by Uphold Europe Limited) and (USA by Uphold HQ Inc).

You should be aware that the risk of loss in trading or holding cryptoassets can be very high. As with any asset, the value of cryptoassets can go up or down and there can be a substantial risk that you lose all your money buying, selling, holding or investing in cryptoassets. Your cryptoassets are not subject to protection.

You should carefully consider whether trading or holding cryptoassets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition. Uphold makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about Uphold.

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