Uphold: What it Means, How it Works, Pros and Cons

What Is Uphold?

Uphold is a cloud-based financial service platform that enables individuals to securely move, convert, hold, and transact in various assets, including fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies, equities, and precious metals. Users can fund their accounts from credit or debit cards, bank accounts, or cryptocurrency networks, and easily move funds from one form of value to another. Uphold aims to reduce transaction costs and fees associated with currency exchange.

Key Takeaways

• Uphold is a cloud-based financial service platform.
• The company allows individuals to securely move, convert, hold, and transact across various asset classes.
• Uphold is also used to trade traditional assets such as fiat currencies, gold, and equities.
• Uphold’s stated priorities are the reduction of transaction fees and the maintenance of high standards of transparency.
• Personal details such as name, phone number, and date of birth are required to set up an account and additional information is needed for trading.

How Uphold Works

Uphold is a cloud-based platform founded in 2014 by Halsey Minor. It allows users to send funds, trade assets, and convert between different forms of value. Uphold offers a wide range of equities, fiat currencies, precious metals, and cryptocurrencies. It aims to simplify the process of exchanging money and reduce transaction costs. Uphold also supports third-party development through its API, Uphold Connect.

Uphold Exchange Fees

Uphold offers an all-inclusive price that includes a small spread. The spread can be as low as 0.4% depending on trading behavior and volumes. The platform also offers free debit and credit card deposits and zero withdrawal fees, except for standard network fees on cryptocurrency networks.

In March 2018, Uphold added Ripple (XRP) to its platform, offering zero transaction fees on the first five million XRP purchased. Uphold operates on a fully reserved basis, meaning its obligations are fully backed by the assets it holds in reserve.

Requirements for Uphold

When signing up for Uphold, users are asked to provide their legal name, date of birth, and phone number. To become a verified user and access all features, additional information such as a current residential address, a valid government photo identification, and a live selfie are required.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Uphold

Advantages

Uphold allows users to trade across multiple asset classes and convert between them. The platform has a transparent fee structure with a small spread between 0.5% to 1.0%, but it can be as low as 0.4%.

Disadvantages

Uphold has limitations on the number of assets in each category. It lacks advanced features such as charts and research tools.

• Advantages: Buy and sell across multiple asset classes, transparent fee structure
• Disadvantages: Limited options in asset classes, lack of trading tools

Uphold vs. Coinbase

Coinbase is another well-known financial platform that primarily focuses on cryptocurrencies. Uphold allows trading and transfer of multiple asset classes, while Coinbase only supports cryptocurrencies. There are differences in fee structures, trading options, and supported assets between the two platforms.

Where Is Uphold Located?

Uphold is based in New York and offers a digital financial platform for trading and transferring various assets.

Is Uphold a Wallet or an Exchange?

Uphold is a multi-asset exchange that allows users to exchange and transfer fiat currencies, precious metals, cryptocurrencies, and certain stocks.

Is Uphold Safe?

Uphold prioritizes safety and implements industry-standard security measures such as Know Your Client (KYC) verification, two-factor authentication, third-party due diligence, and routine auditing and system testing.

Does Uphold Report to the IRS?

Uphold complies with regulatory and reporting requirements and reports taxable transactions to the IRS. Users are asked for their Social Security numbers, and relevant 1099 forms are provided through the app.

The Bottom Line

Uphold offers a platform for trading and exchanging multiple asset classes with transparency and ease of use. It provides access to various traditional currencies, equities, precious metals, and cryptocurrencies. Uphold’s fee structure is transparent, and the platform emphasizes safety and security.