Is Uphold A Safe Exchange To Trade?

Many cryptocurrency exchange platforms are straightforward and convenient to use from both beginner’s point of view and professional traders. But very few of them offer a reliable platform to trade among various leading cryptocurrencies, national (fiat)currencies, and precious metals – all under a single platform.

Uphold is one of those trading platforms that has emerged and is ruling the crypto world with unique and innovative features. In this Uphold review, we will take an in-depth look at the offerings, knowing the trading fees, Uphold card, mobile app features, customer service, and much more.

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Uphold Review: A Quick Overview

• Allows for direct cross-asset trade from “anything to anything.”
• Uphold fee structure is open and transparent(no hidden fees).
• Supports 27 fiat and 90+ cryptocurrencies, 50 US stocks, and 4 precious metals.
• It provides an easy-to-use trading system.
• Cross-trading between asset classes is possible.

What Is Uphold?

Uphold is a cloud-based cryptocurrency trading platform founded in 2014 by an American entrepreneur Halsey Minor. The platform is licensed in the US and Europe, thus making it a suitable platform for working with a regulated cryptocurrency trading website. The platform was initially named Bitreserve, after which the company rebranded itself and was relaunched as Uphold in November 2014. Since then, Uphold has been offering a robust trading platform for 90+ cryptocurrencies and utility tokens, 27 fiat currencies, 50 US stocks, forex trading, four precious metals, and other assets.

The Uphold website functions as a virtual wallet for both fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies. It is designed to store assets quickly, send funds to other Uphold users settled worldwide, and instantly exchange currency. This automatic currency conversion is perhaps the most exciting feature of the platform that attracts crypto investors worldwide. Moreover, users can use the platform as a digital crypto wallet and exchange various fiat money for cryptocurrencies like BTC, LTC, ETH, BCH, etc.

Uphold uses a 100% redundancy model that helps the exchange to subsidize all its clients’ assets in a 1:1 ratio from its reserve funds. With this, Uphold became the first-ever financial service company that publicly shared its reserve holdings in real-time. Currently, Uphold’s services are used by millions of active users based in over 180 countries all over the world.

The exchange combines a platform app model and a robust payment connectivity system to offer a global crypto market unique financial services. The full Uphold payment service protects its users from the volatile crypto market, giving them the opportunity to safely, instantly, and profitably convert digital money into dollars, euros, or other currencies.

Uphold is available in English and Spanish. But there is no Russian and Chinese translation added to the platform yet. The services can be explored in both desktop and iOS or Android versions. Besides this, the Uphold website claims that the platform allows its registered users to access seven other blockchain networks.

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How Does Uphold Work?

Uphold crypto exchange reduces the transaction costs involved in the exchange of cryptocurrencies. The platform matches the cryptocurrency buyers and sellers on its platform against a trading fee and a spread that includes all prices.

Features of Uphold

Uphold offers the following core features to its clients:-

More Accessible and Faster Sign Up Process

Opening an Uphold account is pretty simple, even if the users have not had any type of brokerage account before. They just need to fill up a registration form with their email address, choose their location, and set a strong password. After a quick verification of the email address, the Uphold account would be ready to trade on in a few minutes.

AutoPilot Feature

The AutoPilot feature is a unique feature offered by Uphold. It enables users to buy their favorite cryptocurrencies daily/ weekly /monthly by scheduling recurring transactions. For example, users can set up a protocol to buy $100 worth of Bitcoin every month to coincide with their paycheck.

Instant Transfers

An instant transfer is another most convenient and compelling feature that impresses Uphold customers. Users can send money to their family or friends within a few seconds, which can be done by linking to another account or email. Moreover, the instant transfer feature also permits users to send money in any currency of their choice; they can even send cryptos this way which is an added advantage to Uphold users. And the cherry on the cake is that it is 100% free, whether users are transacting in US dollars or Bitcoins.

Customizable Tile Desktop

As soon as a trader creates an account on Uphold, he will receive his tile desktop platform that can be further customized to fit his needs by simply clicking on asset classes to access the following menu and selecting the preferred trading option.

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Intuitive Account Funding and Account Purchase Option

This feature allows traders to fund their accounts and begin trading from their custom desktops. To do this, traders just need to click on the tile they would like to trade crypto. Then, fund their accounts with their preferred currency or asset directly from their credit card or bank account. Traders also can fund their accounts with a currency even without using it as a base currency.

For example, if traders primarily fund their accounts through a U.S. bank account and then purchase euros, they don’t need to convert USD to EUR after the transfer, and they can directly transfer euros from their U.S. bank account. This makes it more cost-effective for traders to purchase crypto, foreign currencies, or precious metals without paying a substantial conversion fee at each step.

One Step Ordering

Most leading cryptocurrency exchanges and precious metals markets require their users to place 2-step orders, which means that they need to fund their account with either a credit card purchase or a bank account transfer, then again convert their funds into the current equivalent value of the asset or the currency that they wish to own.

With Uphold, the ordering process is not so complex; it allows users to purchase a wide range of digital assets, foreign currencies, and even precious metals without waiting for their funds to clear into their trading accounts. More than 1,000 crypto transfer pairs available on Uphold make the order placing process relatively easy.

* U.S. stock trading not available in the U.S., U.K. and certain other countries.

The Uphold Card

The Uphold card, available for US users only, is a Mastercard debit card that permits the cardholders to spend anything from gold to cash to Bitcoin. The card is accepted at over 50 million merchants and almost all ATMs around the globe. For UK users, the Uphold Card will be available by next year.

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Automatic Currency Conversion

With this innovative feature available on the Uphold exchange, users can send money to anyone they wish to, in their preferred currencies; they can send in whatever currency they conveniently use. The recipient will receive what they need. If A sends bitcoin to B, and B needs Euros, the Bitcoin will be automatically converted into Euros in the process and credited to B’s wallet as Euros. Similarly, users can give the QR code associated with their linked bank account (like a USD sub-account). If someone sends a bitcoin, it will be automatically converted into USD before reaching the user’s wallet.

Other Innovative Products

Uphold offers other innovative products like Universal Gold (UPXAU) tokens that make crypto investing more manageable and accessible to all. The Universal Gold (UPXAU) tokens circumvent all the drawbacks that people face while investing in precious metals like gold. These drawbacks include low spending ability, large liquidation spreads, and substantial storage costs.

UPXAU Tokens are equivalent to 1 Troy ounce of pure physical gold held at the Perth Mint located in Western Australia and yet can be spent on a debit card. In the process, the token holders will incur zero custody fees. The tokens can be instantly liquidated into 27 national currencies, which is the most interesting part of the UPXAU token. Moreover, these tokens are easily transportable, and the underlying gold in these tokens can also be physically delivered to Australia and the US.

Is Uphold Regulated?

Yes, Uphold is regulated by the U.S. Department of Treasury and the FinCEN (U.S. Treasury Department for Financial Crimes) and thus operates as a regulated financial services provider. In Europe, Uphold also partners with the Authorized Payments Institute, which reports to the United States Financial Regulatory Authority.

Uphold Review: Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Highly customizable and user-friendly interface.	High spreads on lower volume assets.
Facilitates direct cross-asset trading- “anything to anything.”	The selection of asset classes is limited.
Low minimum deposits.	The Educational section is less organized.
Commission-free trading on all assets.
Accepts debit cards and helps traders earn crypto as cashback.

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How Do I Open an Uphold Account?

Uphold is one of the few cryptocurrency exchanges that allow users to buy and sell stocks, currencies, and commodities all on a single platform. Getting started with Uphold is relatively easy, and thus the platform is excellent for beginners who have not had any crypto trading experience in the past. Account opening on Uphold is pretty simple, and users just need to visit the official Uphold website to create an account.

The signup process is simple and only takes a few minutes to complete for individuals. Once the users land on the account creation page, they will be asked to select whether they want to create an individual or business account. However, business account creation may take a little longer as users need additional verification documents.

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For every location where Uphold is available, users are likely to go through an ID verification process to become verified members of the exchange when the cumulative value of their lifetime transactions exceeds $1,000 US dollars. The exchange collects personal information like the user’s date of birth, email, and phone number during registration. For residents of China, users will have to submit a government-issued ID number.

To become a verified member, users need to provide the following three items- current residential address (any utility will do), government-issued ID (passport, national ID card, or a driver’s license), and a clear photo holding any of these documents in hand. After the verification process is done, an auto-generated email with the activation link will be sent to the user’s email address. They will have to click on the activation link to verify and activate their account on Uphold.

How User-Friendly Is Uphold?

Uphold exchange is one of the most user-friendly cryptocurrency exchange platforms that impresses the customers with advanced features like easy signups, auto-pilot features, intuitive purchase and funding options, automatic currency conversions, instant transfers, and the Uphold card, etc.

How to Deposit/Withdraw on Uphold?

To replenish the trading account on the Uphold wallet, users need to click on the “Add Funds” tab in the upper right corner of the page, choose a top-up method on the Uphold system and then click on the “Add Funds” tab again to deposit money into the Uphold wallet finally. Uphold also allows users to top up their wallets with cryptocurrency. For this, users need to select a cryptocurrency and then generate a wallet address to send funds globally.

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To withdraw funds, users need to click on the “Use Funds” tab from the menu bar, where they will be given options for selecting the method they would prefer to use for withdrawing funds from the platform like Uphold card, best crypto wallet, bank account, etc.

In case they want to use the external crypto wallets, they would need to select the cryptocurrency that they want to withdraw, enter the wallet address, preferred amount, and message (optional), etc., after which the funds will be sent to the specific wallet address provided by the user.

Uphold Fees

According to the information available on Uphold exchange’s official website, Uphold does charge a trading fee and a withdrawal fee and thus is not a free service. The Uphold exchange does not charge any trading commissions from its clients on trades, withdrawals, or deposited funds. Still, for specific activities like withdrawing funds to private wallets on various crypto networks or to banks through payment services like the Swift network, a small fee is charged from residents of a few countries.

To move fiat funds (off-platform) via bank transfer, they are charged at a flat rate of $3.99, and third-party costs may apply in some cases, like bank wire costs in some geographical locations as blockchain network fees.

However, withdrawals to European banks through payment services like SEPA and US banks through ACH are entirely free. Trading fees for fiat currencies, metals, and cryptocurrencies vary greatly. The lowest fee is 0.65% for USD, GBP, and EUR, while the highest fee is 3.95%for Platinum (XPT). Apart from this, Uphold includes a small spread in the price of any crypto asset bought by the customers.

According to the various Uphold reviews available online, the following card usage fees were found on the Uphold exchange:-

• For domestic withdrawals, a fee of $2.50 is charged per transaction.
• For international withdrawals, a fee of $3.50 is charged per transaction.
• Domestic purchase is free of charge.
• Foreign exchange is also free of charge.

Uphold Trade Limits

• The maximum spend is fixed at $10,000 per day.
• Cash withdrawal is fixed at $1,500 per day.
• Cash withdrawal per transaction is fixed at $500.

However, for more details on the Uphold fee schedule, check here.

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Features of Uphold App

Uphold mobile App is user-friendly and straightforward, having the same interface as its desktop version priority on ease of use and “Anything-to-Anything” transfers. The Uphold app is available for a free download from Google Playstore or Apple Store and is compatible with iOS and Android devices. Some of the unique features of the simple mobile app are listed below:-

Two-Click Exchanges

Just as in the desktop version of the exchange, the app also provides users an easy platform to quickly place an order. Users just need to click on the “transact” tab and choose their funding method (from linked bank accounts, credit cards, or crypto networks) and place their order transactions, and it will be executed in less than 30 seconds.

From and To Interface

This feature allows users to pull money from their bank or card and put it straight into the asset class they want to buy. The proximity of funding and trading on a single screen makes these mobile apps a very convenient platform to trade crypto.

Comprehensive Market Data

Uphold serves its customers with ‘up-to-the-minute’ market data for everything ranging from cryptocurrencies to precious metals. In most cases, price data is calculated up to the 5th decimal, enabling users to make the most accurate calculations.

Full Desktop Functionality

Apart from investing on the platform, traders can also monitor their account portfolio and send money to family or friends just on the go.

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Uphold Supported Currency & Countries

According to the official website of Uphold, the exchange supports a total of 27 fiat currencies, due to which the platform enjoys a competitive advantage over other similar crypto exchanges. Most major fiat-to-crypto currency exchanges don’t support currencies outside of EUR, USD, GBP, and CNY. Moreover, Uphold supports the trading of 4 precious metals- Gold (XAU), Silver (XAG)., Platinum (XPT) and Palladium (XPD).

Uphold supports 90+ leading cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, LTC, DASH, BCH, BTG, LBA, Basic Attention Token, and XRP and supports over 1,000 crypto trading pairs. Uphold is available globally except for Cuba, the Central African Republic, Iran, Libya, Somalia, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.

Uphold Security

Security of clients’ funds and data is the utmost priority for the Uphold team. The company employs sophisticated encryption mechanisms and layered defenses to protect clients’ data and funds against any potential cyber-attacks to maintain the platform’s integrity. The Uphold team also assures that their products go through regular security audits by experienced cybersecurity professionals to eliminate loopholes in their security systems.

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The Uphold Security Operations Centre also does 24/7 monitoring to check potential threats. Moreover, Uphold also offers a bug bounty program and awards anyone contributing to reporting any security vulnerability on the platform. There is also 2FA (two-factor authentication) and private key encryption employed on the platform to provide an extra layer of security to protect clients’ accounts.

Customer Service

Uphold offers unique customer services for its clients in the following ways:-

Email

For general inquiries, users can send an email to the Uphold customer service team at ‘[email protected]’. If customers want to introduce themselves to the Uphold team or for a non-urgent query/simple question about the customer service team, they can contact them at ‘[email protected]’.

Social Media

To get in touch with the Uphold team via Twitter, users can send a private message or tweet to ‘@AskUphold.’

Apart from these, Uphold also offers a special in-app help section that allows traders to quickly browse the platform’s FAQ section and find relevant answers to the most commonly asked queries.

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Conclusion

Thus, after compiling this Uphold review, it can be assumed that Uphold is a safe and leading crypto exchange platform with a lot of unique features that let traders trade almost all cryptocurrencies on the platform; stocks and precious metals are added advantages for which the platform enjoys a competitive advantage over other similar cryptocurrency exchange platforms.

The appealing “anything to anything” transactions on the platform offers more than just a fantastic trading experience. Its low fees and quick transactions particularly appeal to traders who regularly send money out of the country. Overall, Uphold is an excellent cryptocurrency trading platform, and it helps anyone considering a crypto investment to make informed and safe decisions.

FAQs

Is Uphold Safe & Legit?

Yes, Uphold is 100% safe and a legit platform that employs robust security measures to protect its client’s money and assets.

Does Uphold Offer a Wallet?

Yes, Uphold offers a safe and convenient wallet that allows users to store their Bitcoin holdings and seamlessly trade between crypto coins, local currencies, and precious metals. The Uphold wallet is available on both iOS and Android platforms as well as on the web.

How Does Uphold Cloud Money Work?

Uphold is a cloud-based financial service provider that allows individuals to move securely, hold, convert, and transact various assets.

Is Uphold Free?

No, Uphold is not a free platform- it charges a spread every time a trade is executed on the platform.

Uphold Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency investing within the EU/UK by Uphold Europe Limited and USA by Uphold HQ Inc. Asset availability is subject to region. All investments and trading are risky and may result in the loss of capital. Crypto-assets are largely unregulated in most regions.

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 crypto-assets can go up or down, and there can be a substantial risk that you lose all your money buying, selling, holding, or investing in crypto-assets.

Your crypto-assets are not subject to protection. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding crypto-assets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition.