Uphold Review (2022)

Uphold is a crypto exchange that offers an easy-to-use interface and a seamless trading experience on dozens of assets. This includes more than 160 cryptocurrencies, plus precious metals, and environmental assets.

But how does Uphold work? What do you need to get started with the exchange?

In this Uphold review, we’ll take a closer look at the ins and outs of Uphold, the pros and cons of the platform, the fees it charges, and more.

Advantages & Disadvantages

Advantages

Disadvantages

What is Uphold?

Uphold was founded in 2013 by Halsey Minor, when they were previously known as Bitreserve. It’s headquartered in the US (New York), but they also have a registered office address in the UK (London).

Some quick facts about Uphold:

• Have more than 1.7 million customers across the 180+ supported countries.
• Handled over US$4 billion in trades and transactions since 2015.
• Have around 250 employees, with a long list of open positions.

Although it shares many of the same features as other crypto platforms, Uphold prides itself on being an “anything to anything” trading platform. This means that you’re able to directly trade any supported asset, such as Bitcoin, for any other supported asset, like Ethereum, in a single transaction.

How Does Uphold Work?

The main thing that sets Uphold apart is that it facilitates conversions between ANY asset class.

This means you can do things like:

• Convert your GBP balance into any supported cryptocurrency.
• Buy Chainlink (LINK) using your Basic Attention Token (BAT) balance.
• Exchange your Dogecoin (DOGE) balance for Enjin (ENJ).

Cryptocurrency exchanges normally only support a small number of trading pairs so that their trading volume isn’t unnecessarily spread around too thin.

The platform itself is well laid out, so it all seems quite intuitive. Unlike some of its high-profile competitors, Uphold isn’t clunky or clustered. Navigating your way online shouldn’t be a problem – especially if you’re using the web platform.

You can also put your investments on autopilot by setting up regular purchases of cryptocurrencies or precious metals on Uphold (i.e., dollar cost average). These automated trades can be configured to execute every day, each week, or every month.

(You can find out more about dollar-cost averaging in this post).

Uphold Supported Countries

Uphold is available in more than 184 countries, which includes the UK, the US, and most of the EU.

The few countries that Uphold doesn’t operate in includes nations on the US’s financial sanctions list.

Uphold Supported Assets

In the UK

Uphold currently supports more than 160 cryptocurrencies in the UK.

This includes Bitcoin (BTC), as well as Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), and many other popular options. You can also access a number of stablecoins (like USDT and USDC).

As a UK or EU user, you can also access 3 fiat currencies (GBP, EUR, and USD).

Other Countries

Although not available in the UK, you can also buy other assets in some countries using Uphold:

• 50 equities (fractional shares starting at US$1).
• 4 precious metals (gold, silver, platinum, & palladium).
• 27 fiat currencies (e.g., USD, CAD, AUD).

Uphold Payment Methods

UK residents can deposit GBP using the following payment methods:

• UK bank transfer (via Faster Payments Service)
• Credit card
• Debit card

US residents can deposit USD via an ACH or wire transfer, and EU residents can send EUR to Uphold via a SEPA bank transfer. Alternatively, you can fund your account by depositing a supported cryptocurrency into Uphold.

Deposits and withdrawals made with a UK bank transfer are FREE. However, you will pay an additional fee when buying supported assets with a debit or credit card.

• Debit Card: 2.49%
• Credit Card: 3.99%

You can find out a little more here.

Uphold Fees

Uphold’s fees are included in the exchange rate that you’re quoted when you buy or sell anything using its platform (i.e., a spread model).

In the US and Europe, this is what Uphold says you should expect to pay:

Asset	Typical Spread
Bitcoin (BTC) & Ethereum (ETH)	0.8% to 1.2%
Other Cryptocurrencies	Variable
Precious Metals	3%
USD, GBP, and EUR	0.2%
US Stocks	1%

For cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), it’s not clear how much spread will be included in the exchange rate. Uphold only state that it might be “significantly higher”.

I found reports that there were spreads of around 4% on Dogecoin (DOGE) trades. But when I checked, I was being quoted prices that were about 1.6% above the real exchange rate.

On top of that, you’ll be charged a $1 transaction fee when buying or selling less than $100 worth of an asset.

And although you can calculate the spread included in the exchange rate, it can be a little awkward if you’re going from crypto-to-crypto (e.g., from BAT to DOGE).

You should also expect to pay additional fees when withdrawing supported cryptocurrencies. For most cryptocurrencies, this seems to be dynamic. This is quite normal, as the cost of transacting using cryptocurrencies can fluctuate wildly over time.

Uphold Limits

Like other cryptocurrency brokers and exchanges, Uphold requires know-your-customer (KYC) verification before you can fully access everything that Uphold has to offer.

One thing I liked about Uphold is how easy it is to open an account and get started.

Unlike some alternatives, the sign-up process didn’t involve a multiple-day validation process. Unless you run into issues, you shouldn’t expect it to take longer than about 10 minutes to complete the whole process.

Head over here for information about limits.

Is Uphold Safe?

Upload takes numerous steps to protect customer accounts, funds, and assets:

• Uses advanced security features, like enhanced encryption.
• Performs regular audits and third party due diligence checks (to find any weaknesses in its security system).
• Stores 90% of its customer’s crypto in offline cold storage, with a live update of its asset reserves on its website.
• Currencies on Uphold are insured against theft, up to the amount the company has in reserve.
• Has an insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London for precious metals.

To date, there hasn’t been any serious security incident with Uphold. However, a service account was compromised in 2018 – but Uphold maintained that their platform wasn’t hacked.

Head over to this page to find out more.

Uphold Debit Card

The Uphold debit card is a multi-asset debit card that lets you pay for daily transactions using cryptocurrencies, gold, fiat currencies, and equities. This card will be accepted anywhere that Mastercard is normally accepted (50 million+ merchants and ATMs).

Here are some other things I picked out:

• Converts your specified assets in real-time to cover your purchases.
• 1% cashback when you spend fiat currency using the Uphold debit card.
• 2% cashback when you spend cryptocurrencies using the Uphold debit card.
• No foreign transaction fees.

This currently only looks available in the US, but they’re planning to roll out in the UK/EU in the near future.

Head over to this page to find out more.

Uphold Alternatives in the UK

One of Uphold’s closest competitors is Coinbase.

Founded in 2013, Coinbase has a similar focus on making it as easy as possible for more people to securely access the crypto-economy. In 2022, they have more than 100 million verified users across more than 100 countries.

Coinbase’s fee disclosure isn’t as transparent as it used to be. However, I’ve been quoted fees of about 2% (including the spread) when buying more than £200 worth of Bitcoin (BTC). For smaller purchases, fees can be much higher.

Summary: A Good Choice for Beginners

All things considered, Uphold is a solid place to buy Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies.

Here’s what I liked about it:

• Uphold has a streamlined, easy-to-use web interface (and a great mobile app too).
• The spread included in the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) exchange rate is competitive (typically between 0.8% and 1.2%).
• You can setup automatic purchases of any supported asset (to dollar-cost average).

On top of this, the ability to convert between different assets (e.g., straight from Dogecoin into Enjin) is not a very common feature. It’s easily the platform’s greatest attribute.

I’m also looking forward to the release of the Uphold debit card in the UK. It seems like a balanced blend of what the Crypto.com Visa Card and CoinJar Card are offering (i.e., cashback, but also real-time conversions of assets to cover purchases).

But while Uphold supports a decent number of cryptocurrencies, its trading platform is quite basic. If you’re after more advanced trading features, then you’ll want to check out my list of the best cryptocurrency exchanges for UK residents instead.

But if you’re not bothered about that and you’re just looking for somewhere to easily buy Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies? Uphold is a cryptocurrency platform that’s well worth considering.

Any Questions?

Thanks for checking out this Uphold review!

Have a question?

Let me know in the comments section below.