Uphold Review 2022 (2024)

Those traders who are interested in many different asset classes know cash is often the only way to go from one asset to another.

At the time of the interview, Thieriot said that Uphold had 1.5 million clients in 182 countries and was growing at a rate of about two thousand users per day.

Uphold also allows limit orders for trading. This allows you to buy or sell an asset at a defined target price. You can also set how long you want to keep the limit order open for, or cancel it at any time.

One of Uphold's big selling features is that they never lend out your assets, and they maintain at least 100% of customer assets in reserves. You can see their full transparency report here.

• Instant transfers: Send money to friends and family for free using any of Uphold's supported assets
• Employer payments: Rather than receiving your paycheck 100% in cash, choose to get paid in whatever currency you prefer or a combination of multiple currencies.
• Secure and flexible withdrawals: Withdraw your money fee-free by sending it to a bank, crypto exchange, or a private wallet. Uphold can connect with banks in 36 countries as well as 7 crypto exchanges.

The spread is how Uphold makes money on transactions. It's the difference between the bid x ask. Uphold says its spread is typically 0.8% to 1.2% on BTC and ETH and 1.8% in the U.S. and Europe.

For other digital currencies, Uphold warns that "Spreads can be significantly higher for low-liquidity cryptos and tokens...Check rates at Preview before you trade." Currently, spreads for these other currencies and commodities range from 0.65% to 3.95%.

It does offer a "typical" spread for its other supported assets. These are:

• Precious metals: 3% (on top of the bid-ask spread of Uphold's supplier)
• Fiat currencies: 0.2% (between major currencies such as USD, EUR, and GBP
• U.S. equities: 1% (the spread is a bit higher during after-market hours)

In addition to the spread, there will be a $1 transaction feeon all transactions between assets where the amount transacted isunder $100in value (with a few exceptions, such as using the Uphold Debit Card).

Uphold doesn't charge any fees for bank deposits or withdrawals (for US-users using ACH). However, a 3.99% fee is charged whenever funds are added using a credit card, and 2.49% fee on deposits using a debit card.

The Uphold debit card has a one-time fee of $9.95. Withdrawals are $2.50. The daily cash withdrawal is $1,500 and $500 per transaction.

Promo:Until January 5, 2023, users can now buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) for free on Uphold! That's unlimited trading, $0 fees, 0% spreads, $0 commissions.

In the first half of this video from a frustrated Uphold client, he says that he's been unable to withdraw funds for almost 70 days and there’s also a $3.99 withdrawal fee. I’ve read similar complaints about funds being held.

Uphold doesn’t have anything about this in their FAQ. The video also references withdrawal fees but Uphold shows there are no withdrawal fees. I’m not sure how some people are running into holds on their funds or withdrawal fees.

In our testing, we found it difficult to get our account approved by passing the KYC and AML screenings - which is something they don't make you do until after you sign up. So, you could theory end up depositing money and then having it trapped due to how they setup their system to make it "easy to open an account".

For whatever reason, we've found Uphold to have the most cumbersome and unreliable process for KYC and AML versus other popular cryptocurrency exchanges.

Important Note:Uphold clearly says that they don't lend out customer assets. This is a big contrast to other crypto savings firms that did lend out customer assets and caused their customers to lose money. This is a good sign from Uphold.

Like most cryptocurrency platforms, Uphold does not put a strong emphasis on customer service. It doesn't publish a phone number anywhere on its site.

If you do need assistance regarding your account, you'll probably want to start by visiting its Help Center or FAQ page. You can also submit a support ticket here or email them at hello@uphold.com.

Uphold's currently has a "Average" customer service rating on Trustpilot of 2.9/5. And that's not from just a few reviews. Over 6,900 customers have reviewed the company on Trustpilot as of writing.

The company also has a 4.4 star rating on the Apple App Store, and a 4.7 star rating on the Google Play Store.

As we alluded to earlier, there are several Youtube videos claiming that Uphold is a scam. We won't go that far. But what we will say is that the Uphold experience may not be as hassle-free as promised -- especially when it comes time to withdraw your funds. As we mentioned, in our testing, we found some frustrating things as well.

Some people, however, have had good experiences with Uphold. Like all cryptocurrency exchanges, customer service is mostly absent. But for those who can look past these issues and want direct cross-asset trading, Uphold is the platform to use.

If minimizing fees is a priority, you may be better off dealing with the hassle of using a different trading account for each asset type. Paying a 1% spread on stocks is a pretty terrible deal when there are so many free stock trading apps available today. And severalpopular cryptocurrency exchanges offer lower (and clearer) crypto trading fees.

DISCLAIMER

Uphold offers Cryptoasset investing within the EU/UK (by Uphold Europe Limited) and USA (by Uphold HQ Inc).

Capital at risk. 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.