Uphold Exchange Review

Uphold is a great exchange for US investors, crypto beginners, and crypto investors who are also interested in precious metals or equities.

• Easy deposit/withdrawal methods throughout the US, UK, and Europe
• Carries equities and gold in addition to crypto
• Integrated with Brave Browser
• Some cryptos can't be withdrawn, and no full list of these is available
• Higher fees when compared to some exchanges

Uphold is a popular US cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in New York. It was created by CNET founder, Halsey Minor, in 2014. It has processed over $4 billion transactions since its founding.

Uphold is regulated by the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and is a licensed money transmitter in all states and countries where it operates, except in cases where a license is not required. Licenses for US states can be found here.

In the crypto community, Uphold is most known for two things:

1. Its partnership with Brave Browser, allowing it to be chosen as a place for Brave users to receive deposits of their BAT rewards
2. The fact that it allows users to swap crypto for not only fiat, but also for equities and precious metals

Uphold is also well-known as a transparent cryptocurrency exchange. It publishes a real-time audit of its assets and liabilities.

For cryptocurrency purchases or sales, Uphold charges a spread on each transaction, and this spread varies depending on the particular asset being purchased or sold.

The spread on major cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH is usually 0.8 to 1.2% in the US and Europe. Outside of these core areas, the spread for these major cryptos can rise as high as 1.8%. Low liquidity, low market-cap coins generally have the widest spreads, regardless of area.

For conversions from one major fiat currency to another, Uphold charges approximately 0.2% per transaction. These major currencies include USD, EUR, and GBP.

Uphold charges around 3% spread per trade for precious metals, and approximately 1% per trade for equities.

The size of Uphold’s spread varies based on the particular asset being traded and current market conditions. So we can’t show you an up to date chart on it. However, there is a current Uphold official list of spreads for users that are interested.

Price Protection Fee for business accounts

Uphold allows business owners to open special accounts that can be used to make free cross-border payments to remote workers, suppliers, etc. But these accounts do have additional fees that are not charged to personal accounts.

As far as trading fees are concerned, the only additional one for business accounts is the Price Protection Fee. This is an approx. 0.75% additional charge for currency conversion. This fee is intended to guarantee that the business obtains exactly the amount of currency it needs, which may be important if the business intends to use this currency to make a payment.

Business accounts are also subject to additional deposit and withdrawal fees, which we’ll discuss in the relevant sections below.

No additional trading fees

Uphold does not charge any additional trading fees beyond those listed here. For example, it does not charge a commission.

Uphold carries over 60 cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, ADA, UNI, and more. Here is a list of some coins that it carries:

In addition, it carries gold, silver, platinum, palladium, more than 20 different fiat currencies, and over 35 US equities.

US, UK, and European traders can all use Uphold with ease. It is available in most countries throughout the world. Here is a partial list of countries where Uphold is available:

Compared to many of its competitors, Uphold excels at offering convenient options for users to deposit fiat. Here is how users can deposit cash in each type of account and in each area that Uphold serves.

Personal accounts

USA

US residents with Uphold personal accounts can deposit cash via credit/debit card, ACH, or wire transfer.

Credit and debit card deposits are instant and free. US residents should be aware that Uphold’s bank is headquartered outside of the country. So your bank may charge you an “overseas” or “international” fee of 1-3% for depositing to Uphold using a card.

ACH transfers are free and take 1-3 business days to be finalized. Crypto bought with an ACH deposit cannot be withdrawn to a private wallet until 60 days after the cash transfer is initiated. This is to prevent attackers from using ACH fraud to steal your bank funds and buy crypto with it.

Domestic wire transfers usually take no more than 24 hours to process. Uphold does not charge for wire deposits. However, the sending bank will usually charge $25 or more to send the wire.

Crypto bought with a debit card or wire transfer can be withdrawn to a private wallet immediately.

Overall, your best option as a US resident is to use debit cards for small deposits and wire transfers for very large ones.

UK

UK personal account holders can deposit using debit card, Faster Payments, or SWIFT. Credit card deposits to Uphold are not available in the UK.

In the case of a SWIFT transfer, the sending bank may charge a fee of anywhere from £10 to £40.

Faster Payments and debit card transfers are usually immediate, but a SWIFT transfer can take up to 1-5 business days.

Uphold does not charge a fee for deposits through any of these methods.

Eurozone countries

Residents of Eurozone countries can employ credit/debit cards, SEPA, or SWIFT to make deposits to their Uphold personal accounts.

As with other areas, credit/debit card deposits from Europe are instant and free, as are SEPA deposits. SWIFT transfers, on the other hand, take 1-5 business days and may produce a fee from the sending bank.

Uphold itself does not charge a deposit fee to personal accounts, regardless of the method used.

Overall, the best option for European users of Uphold is to rely on SEPA for fast and free deposits.

Other areas

Personal account holders residing outside of the ACH, Faster Payments, and SEPA networks will need to rely on credit/debit cards or SWIFT to make deposits to Uphold.

With SWIFT, the sending bank will charge 25-40 USD, EUR, or GBP, but Uphold will not charge a fee.

Uphold will only accept deposits of USD, EUR, or GBP. So users who wish to deposit other currencies may need to pay a conversion fee to their bank in the process.

However, once a user has funds within the Uphold system, they can purchase and hold any of the 25 fiat currencies available at Uphold.

Crypto deposits

In addition to being able to deposit fiat, Uphold personal account holders can deposit most major cryptocurrencies carried by the platform. This can be useful if an investor already has a primary cryptocurrency exchange but wants to use Uphold to invest in precious metals or equities, or if the user simply wants to buy a coin from Uphold that is not carried by the other exchange.

Some coins offered by Uphold cannot be deposited from an external wallet. These coins are referred to as “Tier 4” by Uphold staff. These include VET, SRM, HNT, SOL, and others. We could not find a full list of Tier 4 coins. But if the interface blocks you from depositing your coin, this is probably why.

Uphold does not charge a fee for crypto deposits to personal accounts.

Business accounts

Holders of business accounts have access to all of the same deposit methods in each country as holders of personal accounts. The only difference is that business account holders are charged 3.99% for each deposit done with a credit or debit card. Uphold does not charge business accounts a deposit fee for any other method.

Uphold offers multiple withdrawal options for each type of account and area it serves. Here are the withdrawal options available.

Personal accounts

United States

Crypto traders in the US can withdraw from an Uphold personal account via ACH or wire transfer.

Uphold states that ACH transfers may take up to three days to process. However, we have found in our tests that ACH withdrawals often only take one day if initiated on a weekday.

If you choose wire transfer, your bank may charge an additional fee to receive the withdrawal.

Unfortunately, Uphold does not offer Paypal or debit card instant transfers. So US users have no means of making instant fiat withdrawals.

UK

In the UK, Uphold offers withdrawals from a personal account through Faster Payments or SWIFT. Faster Payments transfers are free and usually take no more than 2 hours to process. SWIFT payments can take up to 5 days and may result in a charge from the receiving bank.

Eurozone

Personal account holders in Europe can make nearly instantaneous withdrawals via SEPA at no charge. In addition, they can withdraw via SWIFT if for some reason they cannot access SEPA, although SWIFT transfers will likely result in fees from the receiving bank.

Other areas

Unfortunately, users outside of the US, EU, and UK will need to rely on SWIFT to make withdrawals of USD, EUR, or GBP. These transfers will take one to five days to process, and your bank may charge you a fee to receive the payment.

Crypto withdrawals

If you would rather withdraw crypto from your personal account rather than fiat, you can do so via any network Uphold is integrated with.

So, for example, if you have another exchange that offers Paypal or debit card withdrawals, you can withdraw crypto from Uphold, deposit it at the other exchange, sell it, and withdraw to Paypal/debit card.

For many users, this can be an extremely convenient option for liquidating precious metals, foreign currencies, or equities investments without having to deal with the hassles of bank withdrawals.

Tier 4 coins cannot be withdrawn to an external wallet. These coins include XTZ, FIL, HBAR, THETA, and others. We couldn’t find an official list of Tier 4 coins. So if you need to be able to move your crypto off the platform, check with support before buying. Major cryptos such as BTC and ETH are not Tier 4 and can be withdrawn.

Uphold will charge a network fee for making a crypto withdrawal, but this fee should be no more than what is charged by the validators of whatever network you are withdrawing to.

Business accounts

Uphold business account holders can withdraw using any of the same methods employed by personal account holders. However, crypto withdrawals will incur a $2.99 fee from Upwork, and all fiat withdrawals will incur a $3.99 fee from Uphold.

Uphold is a US-based exchange. And as with any exchange located in the US, it takes identity verification seriously. However, the process of gaining verified status at Uphold is fairly simple and hassle-free.

To become verified and be able to deposit crypto, you simply need to provide your:

• Name
• Email address
• Date of birth
• Phone number
• (Photo of) government-issued ID

To specifically deposit or withdraw fiat, you also need to provide your:

• Bank account, credit card, or debit card details
• Residential address
• Social Security Card (if in the US)

For basic verification, Uphold does not require a selfie. So if you have trouble taking a clear picture with your phone’s camera, you can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that your application won’t get rejected due to a blurry selfie (although your government-issued ID still needs to be clear).

If Uphold flags your account as being high risk, it may require you to take further verification steps, including taking a selfie to prove you are the person whose photo is on the ID. But this usually won’t be necessary.

Here are a few of the methods Uphold employs for security.

Security of the servers themselves

Access controls

Uphold uses a variety of techniques to prevent unauthorized access to personal data or private keys held on its servers.

It uses Role Based Access Control (RBAC) software to ensure sensitive sections of the database are only accessible to employees who need access to them to perform their jobs. It also uses Smart Cards in each office location to ensure that employees without proper privileges don’t get physical access to the data center.

Uphold employs SQL injection filters in its web forms to prevent hackers from getting access to the database, and it follows Test Driven Development (TDD) processes to detect security vulnerabilities in a patch before it is implemented.

Uphold uses strong encryption methods on all private keys.

Audits

Another security method Uphold uses is routine audits and penetration tests. It has an Uphold Security Team that constantly tries to think up ways for an attacker to get access to the system, and if found, to plug these holes in security before anyone else discovers them.

Uphold also employs 3rd party financial auditors to ensure that its books do not become unbalanced.

Uphold Team policies

Uphold also employs policies to ensure team members use proper security practices.

All potential employees must undergo a background check that includes criminal history, education credentials, reference checks, and all public financial records.

And once hired, they are required to use a strong password, 2FA authentication, screen locking, and safe PC storage protocols. In addition, team members are required to attend regular classes on security, updating them on the newest practices they need to employ.

Security of individual accounts

2FA?

As a method to secure individual accounts, Uphold claims that it allows users to turn on 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) to provide an extra layer of security. However, we found that their 2FA doesn’t provide much protection.

Unlike other exchanges, Uphold allows you to reset your 2FA using just your email address after a 24 hour delay. This means that any attacker who gains access to your email address can switch your 2FA to their own phone within 24 hours.

Once this has occurred, you are locked out of your account, and the hacker can safely withdraw your cryptocurrency into a wallet under his control. All of this can be done without the attacker ever having access to your phone, as long they do have access to your email account.

This loophole is probably intended to help users who lose their phones. But it also has the unfortunate effect of making the 2FA feature have very little value in terms of being able to protect your account.

If you want to enable 2FA on Uphold, you can do it by clicking more → Security → Enable 2 Step Verification. But it won’t be much help if your email becomes compromised.

We recommend that Uphold users employ strong measures to prevent unauthorized access to their email accounts.

This is true for users of any exchange or for any user of email in general. But it is especially true for Uphold users due to the lack of effective 2FA.

We also suggest that Uphold users, or users of any exchange, should consider keeping their cryptocurrency off of exchanges, in a private wallet, as much as possible. In general, your email account cannot be used to steal your crypto if it is kept in a private wallet, since there is no “forgot my password” feature on blockchain networks.

Uphold hack?

We have searched for evidence of an Uphold hack. Here is what we have found out.

Email server hack

In November, 2018, a third-party email server used by Uphold was hacked and used to send phishing scam emails to Uphold users. Uphold detected the hack and responded by suspending Bitcoin withdrawals until control of the email server was reestablished.

In this incident, the exchange itself was not penetrated, and no one lost their crypto.

Uphold exchange hack?

We found no evidence that the Uphold exchange itself has ever been breached. As far as we can tell, Uphold has never experienced a major, system-wide compromise of its security protocols the way many other exchanges have.

We’ve investigated Uphold’s user-interface to see if it's easy-to-use and beginner friendly. Here is what we’ve found out.

Registering for an Uphold account

Registration at Uphold is simple. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Click sign up now from the homepage
2. Fill out the fields, including email, new password, country of residence, and citizenship
3. Accept the terms of service, and click Next
4. Enter your legal name, birthdate, and SSN/TIN
5. Check the box saying that your details will match your ID
6. Click confirm
7. Check your email, and click the link provided to confirm your email

That’s all there is to registering at Uphold. In our testing, we found the process to be easy and hassle-free.

Dashboard

Once you register and get verified, the app opens to a dashboard.

On the left side is a watchlist that gives you a snapshot of current market action for a few coins. By default, it shows BAT, BTC, ETH, and XRP. This list can be customized to show your favorite coins.

In the lower left is your recent transactions. In the middle, your portfolio balance is shown, and on the right is the trading interface.

Depositing fiat

To deposit fiat at Uphold, use the trading interface on the right side of the dashboard. Click the from drop-down menu, then click the plus sign (+) beside banks or credit or debit cards.

For ACH, Faster Payments, or SEPA, click Bank Account and enter your bank info to link your account. For Wire Transfer, click Wire Transfer to get info on where to send the funds.

For debit card transaction, just enter your card info and click Add card to add your card for payment.

Once your payment details have been added, click the To drop-down menu, and select the asset you want to purchase.

Note that there are tabs at the top of this menu that toggle between accounts, banks, cryptocurrencies, metals, etc., but there is no slider bar you can use to move left or right. So if the group of assets you want to select is off the screen to the right, you have to click on a tab to the right of the one that is currently selected in order to scroll to the right.

You do not have to buy an asset when depositing. If you would like to deposit your local currency, just choose it in the To menu as you would with any other asset.

After the To field has been filled out, go back to the From field. Enter the amount of local currency you want to use to make the deposit, then click Preview deposit. Click confirm deposit to finalize the deposit.

Depositing crypto

Depositing crypto is almost exactly like depositing fiat. The only difference is that you choose a cryptocurrency network in the From field and a cryptocurrency account in the To field.

It’s important not to confuse networks with accounts. For example, if you want to deposit ETH, you choose Cryptocurrency networks → Ether (Ethereum network) in the From field. If you accidentally choose My Accounts → ETH Account instead, you’ll be trading ETH within the Uphold platform instead of depositing from outside the platform.

Making a trade

Swapping between one asset and another is almost exactly like depositing. Just enter the asset you have in the From field and the asset you want in the To field.

Make sure you don’t enter a bank account, credit or debit card, or crypto network in the From field. As long as you enter a local account instead, your trade will take place entirely on the Uphold platform.

Withdrawing fiat or crypto

If you’ve read the rest of this user interface section, you can probably guess how to withdraw crypto or fiat on Uphold. Withdrawing is performed exactly like a deposit or trade. Just enter your crypto or fiat account in the From field and your bank account or Crypto network in the To field. This will allow you to move your assets off the platform.

Ease of use

We found Uphold’s interface to be extremely easy to use. The idea that deposits and withdrawals are “trades” like any other did take a little getting used to. But once we learned how to use it, we had no problem performing any function we needed to.

Customer Support at Uphold is handled through an email-based ticket system. If you have a problem, you can submit a new ticket here.

Uphold also maintains a status page. If the webapp is returning 404 errors, users can check this page to see if the servers are down.

Unfortunately, Uphold does not offer chat or phone support.

Trustpilot reviews

Uphold has a 2.3 rating on Trustpilot. Most negative reviews mention one of 2 things:

1. Lack of a list of Tier 4 coins, leading users to unwittingly buy cryptos they can’t withdraw
2. Ineffective 2FA security feature

Positive reviews claim that the support staff is very helpful in clearing up issues with fiat deposits and that the user interface is extremely simple and easy-to-use.

Uphold offers several features that are unique to cryptocurrency exchanges. Here are a few.

Precious metals

Precious metals investment companies are notorious for making withdrawals difficult. So Uphold has attempted to solve this problem by allowing account holders to buy or sell gold, silver, platinum, or palladium using cryptocurrencies or cash.

Users who are interested in buying precious metals can deposit or withdraw using ACH, Faster Payments, or SEPA, greatly simplifying the process as compared to most precious metals dealers.

If the withdrawal options at Uphold are not adequate, the user can sell his metal for crypto, transfer it to another exchange, and make use of the withdrawal options at the other exchange as well.

Equities

Uphold also offers equities for trading. This means that a user who owns both crypto and stocks does not need to transfer money back and forth between Uphold and a stock brokerage account to rebalance his portfolio. Instead, he can do all of his investing in one place.

Note that Uphold only offers US stocks, and only large-cap ones at that. So some equity investors will still need to maintain a separate stock brokerage account.

Brave Browser integration

When users of Brave Browser allow ads to be shown as they are surfing the Web, they get paid a share of the ad revenue generated. And this payment is made in an ERC-20 token called Basic Attention Token (BAT).

However, Brave International will not send BAT directly to the user’s wallet. Instead, it requires users to sign up with a third-party cryptocurrency exchange to fulfill KYC/AML requirements. The BAT is first sent to this exchange. And once it is deposited into this exchange, it can then be withdrawn to the user’s wallet.

Brave International claims that it does this so that it will not know the KYC information of its users, so that it cannot potentially give this information to advertisers.

Uphold was the first cryptocurrency exchange to perform these KYC/AML services for users of Brave. Today, Brave users also have the option of using Gemini for this purpose. But most Brave users still use Uphold for this service simply because it is the most well-known way for a Brave User to withdraw his BAT to an external wallet.

TAP Rewards

Uphold users who hold BAT can also convert it into gift cards and other rewards products through the TAP Reward ecosystem. This feature allows crypto users to purchase Starbucks coffee, Wal-Mart products, Xbox games, and many other mainstream products without needing to withdraw to a bank account.

Uphold account holders do not need to use Brave Browser to take advantage of this feature. As long as they hold BAT in their accounts, they can use it to make these purchases.

Uphold offers a mobile app for both Android and iOS. Here is how the interface to Uphold Mobile works.

Dashboard

The Uphold Mobile dashboard displays a chart of your portfolio, allowing you to see at a glance whether it has gone up or down since the last time you checked it. Below this chart is a detailed list of every asset in the portfolio. Clicking on each asset takes you to a dedicated page that offers you more info and the ability to transact with that asset.

Below all of this info is five tabs: Portfolio, Activity, Transact, Markets, and More.

Portfolio is the default screen just described, while Activity shows a list of transactions you’ve performed in the past. Transact is the main screen used for deposits, withdrawals, and trades, and Markets lists the price of every asset carried by the platform.

More allows you to link a bank account or card, get help, use TAP Rewards or other integrations, or change settings.

Depositing, withdrawing, and trading

From the main menu, the Transact button in Uphold Mobile can be used to access the trading interface.

From here, transacting is almost identical to the desktop version. Simply choose an account to deposit or sell from, choose an asset to buy or network to withdraw to, and click Preview to see detailed information about the trade. If everything looks correct, click Confirm to confirm the transaction.

Mobile reviews

Uphold Mobile has a 3.3 rating on Google Play and a 3.5 rating on the iOS store. Negative reviews mostly complain of difficulty logging in or getting verified, while positive reviews praise the simple user interface presented within the app.

We’ve gone over many aspects of the user experience of Uphold, including coins offered, fees, user interface, mobile app, security, and more. But you may still be wondering if Uphold is right for you. So in this section, we’ll give our own opinion as to which users may benefit from Uphold and which users should probably stay away from it.

To begin with, experienced crypto traders should be aware that Uphold has a very simple user interface that doesn’t offer complex order types. Repeatable orders and limit orders are possible, but stop-losses, take-profits, and stop-limits are not. So if you’re a scalper or a day-trader, you may find that Uphold’s interface doesn’t have the features you need.

Uphold also has high fees compared to other exchanges favored by serious traders, such as Binance or Bitfinex. This may eat away your profits if you are a frequent trader.

However, Uphold is great for beginning crypto investors, buy-and-hold investors, and most users of decentralized applications (Dapps). It has a simple interface that makes it easy to buy, sell, trade, and withdraw any cryptocurrency. And in most countries, Uphold offers convenient deposit and withdrawal options.

Some users of Dapps may find that the cryptocurrency they want to purchase from Uphold is labeled as “Tier 4.” If so, they will not be able to withdraw this coin. And in this case, Uphold is not a good option.

But most of the cryptocurrencies used in Dapps are withdrawable at Uphold. So few users will face this problem.

Uphold is especially useful for crypto investors or users who reside in the US, use Brave Browser, or are also interested in precious metals or stocks.

Overall, Uphold is a great exchange for most crypto investors and users.

Here are the answers to a few frequently asked questions about Uphold.

How Does Uphold Work?

In essence, Uphold is a forex, cryptocurrency, stock, and precious metals exchange all rolled up into one, with the added benefit that it allows users to make payments to each other.

When you add all of these features together, you get a global payment system that allows users to convert virtually any asset to any other asset and send it to whomever they want.

How to use Uphold?

Once you’ve created an account with Uphold and verified your identity, you can use it by entering the asset you want to provide in the From field and the asset you want to get in the To field. These fields can be filled out with metals, forex, crypto networks, bank accounts, stocks, or cryptocurrencies.

Is Uphold a Wallet?

No. Uphold is not a cryptocurrency wallet. It is a centralized exchange. Any crypto you hold on Uphold is in the possession of Uphold, and you should only let them hold your crypto if you trust them.

If you plan on holding your crypto for a long time, it’s a good idea to transfer it to a private wallet where it will be totally under your control.

Is Uphold Good?

Uphold is a great cryptocurrency exchange for crypto beginners, US crypto investors, and most Dapp users. It isn’t great for day traders or other high-volume crypto traders.

Is Uphold Really Free?

Uphold is not free. Although it doesn’t charge deposit, withdrawal, or commission fees to personal account holders, it does charge a spread every time a trade is made.

How to Withdraw Funds From Uphold?

To withdraw funds, first enter the asset you want to sell or withdraw into the From field. Then enter the place you want to withdraw the funds to in the To field.

You can withdraw to either a bank account or a cryptocurrency network. Make sure you don’t mix up cryptocurrencies themselves with the networks they use.

Is Uphold legit?

Uphold is most definitely legit. They’ve been around since 2014 and have processed over $4 billion worth of transactions.

"Uphold Disclaimer: Uphold offers Cryptoasset investing within the EU/UK (by Uphold Europe Limited) 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.``