Uphold: Features, Functionality, Costs and Platform Review

In the vast panorama of cryptocurrency buying and selling platforms,in Uphold there are some that are able to differentiate themselves by virtue of their functionality, such is the case with Uphold. This multi-asset exchange, in fact, besides being the very first financial company to make its reserves publicly available in real time, has been able to earn a niche of increasingly considerable importance. We will now take a detailed look at what Uphold is and how it works.

What is Uphold

Uphold is essentially a multi-asset exchange that allows users to not only trade cryptocurrency and digital assets, but also stocks and precious metals. Officially founded in 2014 by American entrepreneur Halsey Minor, Uphold can currently count on a really wide range of tradable products that specifically includes: 58 cryptocurrencies and tokens, 27 FIAT currencies, 50 US market stocks and 4 precious metals.

Not only that, Uphold is structured to act as a true virtual wallet for both digital and traditional currencies.

Of particular importance is the ideology on which it bases its operations. In the intentions of its founder, in fact, Uphold was to be a platform able to protect investors as much as possible from the risk of volatility inherent in cryptocurrencies and at the same time to facilitate exchanges and transactions with great ease among the various users regardless of where they are. Currently Uphold is spread in about 180 countries and there are millions of its customers, so it can be said that the goal has been fully achieved.

Uphold, in spite of the absence of the Italian language, has a very intuitive interface and, above all, an app that is accessible free of charge for both Android and iOS, perfectly integrated with the main platform so as to guarantee full operability and customization on the user side.

How it works

The basic operation of Uphold is nothing but the most faithful mirror of all the functional features offered. Among its most noteworthy peculiarities there is certainly the native AutoPilot function, through which you’ll be able to create a customized programming plan according to your needs. In other words, by activating this feature, the investor will have the possibility to trade their favorite cryptocurrencies on a daily, weekly or monthly basis thanks precisely to a precise and secure schedule.

Another feature that has made Uphold definitely valuable for its users is the ability to perform money transfers very quickly, in any currency and most importantly for free. Not only that, instant transfer also fully supports cryptocurrencies, which as you can easily guess is a great advantage for all users of the platform.

Uphold reserves special importance to the actual operational phase of buying and selling cryptocurrencies and assets in general, that’s why it has devised a system by virtue of which any purchase or sale transaction can be performed via 1-click function.

Finally, for U.S. users only, Uphold offers a debit card operating on the international Mastercard circuit that fully reflects the multi-asset nature of the main platform and allows trading even through altcoins.

How to Register on the Platform

First of all you need to go to the official Uphold website and from the home page find the Sign up option on the top right. On the screen that appears you can freely choose whether to register as a private user or business, then you will complete the form below by entering your email address, alphanumeric password, country of residence, citizenship and putting a check on the box of terms and conditions before clicking Next.

At this point you can continue by entering in the appropriate spaces name, surname and date of birth, before clicking again on Next. In the next screen you will enter your phone number on which you will receive an automatic response code to be reported in full in the form intended and will also be used later to enable the authentication in 2 factors fundamental to safeguard its security.

Once this is done, you can immediately start trading the desired asset, remembering, however, that when the transaction exceeds $ 1,000 it will be essential to verify your account to become a certified user. This procedure can be carried out by submitting to the platform, through a special form accessible on your personal profile, an identification document, a proof of residence and a classic selfie in which the above documents are clearly visible. At the end of the verification process you will receive a special communication from Uphold that will officially certify the passage to a verified user.

How to Buy Cryptocurrency on Uphold

To make a first trade on Uphold it will be enough to login to the service by entering the credentials previously created during registration, go to the home page and from there select the item Products and then Cryptocurrencies.

In the screen that just appeared there will be a list of all the cryptocurrencies currently supported with their icons, after choosing the one you like you can click on the corresponding icon and press the Buy item on the right. At this point you just need to enter the desired quantity, the payment instrument and the amount and then finalize the transaction by clicking on Confirm.

How to Sell and Transfer Cryptocurrencies

In case you want to sell a certain cryptocurrency in your possession, simply go to the Transact Panel, locate the From item and select your personal wallet.

From here it will be possible to determine the currency you intend to sell and its quantity, after entering the destination address in the To field and authorizing the transaction by entering the code received by email, you can finalize the transaction by clicking on Confirm.

As for transactions to friends, family or third party wallets, it will be sufficient to go through the same operational steps just mentioned and remembering to enter the destination address of the recipient in the To field. Entering the confirmation code received via SMS and clicking on Confirm will authorize the operation.

Withdrawals, Costs and Commissions

Withdrawal operations can be performed indifferently by bank transfer or credit/debit card. Commissions are $2.50 for each withdrawal made on national soil or $3.50 on international soil when using a card.

Being a multi-asset exchange, it is obvious that costs and commissions cover all available assets, but focusing on cryptocurrencies we can see that there are dynamic commissions based on currency and volume transacted.

In Uphold’s FAQ you can learn, for example, that the spread in the United States and Europe on Bitcoin and Etherum fluctuates between 0.8 and 1.2%. For what concerns the other cryptocurrencies, instead, it is advisable to view in advance the dedicated section called Fees.

Final Considerations: Advantages and Limitations

Certainly Uphold is an exchange of cryptocurrencies and other assets very complete in its basic offer and rich in features, among which we should not forget the possibility of instant funds transfer and especially the innovative AutoPilot. Its greatest strengths are undoubtedly an extremely intuitive interface and customizable in every aspect, a truly immediate operation through 1-click operation and a direct approach to buying and selling.

The critical points to be pointed out are, instead, the absence of the Italian language on the platform, a spread slightly higher than the competitors in case of small trading volumes and an educational section that could be improved.

Digiitallife