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Uphold is a multi-asset app: cryptocurrencies, US stocks, precious metals and ordinary currencies, all in one account, with the unusual ability to trade any one directly into any other. It began in 2014 as Bitreserve. Our verdict for someone who wants bitcoin: it works, withdrawals to your own wallet are cheap, and it is more open about its reserves than most, but it is one of the more expensive places to buy, small purchases especially, and it carries more regulatory baggage than the alternatives.
Facts on this page were checked on September 20, 2026 against Uphold’s help centre, fee and disclosure pages, its status page, and the regulators’ own announcements. Uphold’s site blocks automated readers, so its fee schedule was read from the Internet Archive’s copy of 30 August 2026, of a page Uphold dates 1 July 2026; confirm the fee figures on Uphold’s own fee page before relying on them.
| Founded | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Based in | United States (its documents give California, New York and South Carolina addresses); founded as Bitreserve |
| Coins | 300+ crypto assets, plus US stocks, precious metals and national currencies |
| Fees | A spread built into the price: 1.8%-1.95% on bitcoin per Uphold's fee schedule, plus $0.99 on trades under $500; ACH deposits free, cards 3.99%; bitcoin withdrawals cost a 0.00004 BTC network fee |
| Custody | Custodial, with a self-published real-time reserves page (no independent audit found); bank-funded bitcoin cannot be withdrawn for up to 5 business days; optional paid Vault multisig supports bitcoin |
| Best for | People who want crypto, stocks, metals and currencies in one app and accept paying more for bitcoin |
Compare Uphold side by side with other exchanges
What it is
US customers deal with Uphold HQ Inc., a FinCEN-registered money services business licensed as a money transmitter in many states. The company gives several addresses in its own documents, in California, New York and South Carolina. Simon McLoughlin has been chief executive since 2022. Beyond buying and selling, the app offers more than 300 crypto assets, US stocks, precious metals, staking, a dollar account that pays interest, a debit card, and lending products. For a reader who came for bitcoin, most of that is noise, and some of it (staking, lending, thinly traded altcoins) is a good deal riskier than the app’s friendly design suggests.
Fees
Uphold does not charge a visible trading commission. It builds its fee into the price as a spread, the gap between the price you are quoted and the wider market price. The charts in the app show the mid-market price, not the price you will get, so the cost is easy to miss.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Spread on bitcoin (US) | “Typically” 1.8% to 1.95%, and Uphold says it may change spreads at any time |
| Small-trade fee | $0.99 on any trade under $500 |
| Bank transfer (ACH) deposit | Free; $7,500 a day when linked through Plaid |
| Debit or credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay | 3.99% |
| Wire | $10 under $2,000, otherwise free |
| Withdraw bitcoin to your own wallet | A 0.00004 BTC network fee; the $0.99 withdrawal charge that applies to other coins does not apply to bitcoin |
| Cash out to your bank | Free by standard ACH (up to five business days); 1.75% for instant |
In plain numbers: a $50 bitcoin purchase costs about $1 in spread plus the $0.99 fee, roughly 4% of what you spent. A $1,000 purchase costs about $20. Pay by card and add another 3.99%. For comparison, Kraken Pro charges under 1% and the bitcoin-only apps in Strike vs River charge nothing on recurring buys. Older reviews quote an Uphold spread of about 1.5%; that figure is out of date.
Buying bitcoin step by step
- Sign up and verify your identity with a government ID and a live selfie. Expect to be asked for your Social Security number for tax forms, and possibly for proof of address or the source of your funds later on.
- Turn on two-factor login with an authenticator app. Account takeovers were the subject of a class action against Uphold that settled in 2024, so do not skip this.
- Link your bank through Plaid and deposit by ACH, which is free. Avoid the card option.
- Buy bitcoin. The quote is held for 18 seconds; the price you see on the confirmation screen, not the chart, is what you pay. Buying $500 or more at once avoids the $0.99 fee.
- Wait before withdrawing. Money deposited by ACH can be traded immediately, but Uphold says it is “subject to a settlement period before they can be withdrawn,” which “can take up to 5 business days.” If your bank was linked by micro-deposits rather than Plaid, a 65-day cooling-off period can apply to withdrawals elsewhere.
- Withdraw to your own wallet once the hold clears. The fee is small and fixed, which is one of Uphold’s genuine strengths. See Wallets and Self-Custody.
Where you can use it
Uphold does not serve New York, which it left in July 2023, and since 2026 it blocks purchases made while you are physically in New York even if you live elsewhere. It is not opening new accounts in Louisiana. Staking, the interest account, the debit card and the lending product are each unavailable in a few further states. Uphold also left Canada in 2025 and has paused deposits in the European Union pending a licence.
Security and trust
Uphold is custodial: it holds your bitcoin until you withdraw it. In its favor, it publishes a real-time page showing its assets against what it owes customers (100.4% when we looked), and it states, “We never loan out your funds – unless you have explicitly chosen to stake or use DeFi lending.” Two cautions. That page is published by Uphold itself, and we found no independent audit of it. And crypto balances are not covered by FDIC or SIPC insurance, as Uphold’s disclosures say.
For people who want to hold their own keys with a safety net, Uphold sells Vault, a paid subscription that creates a two-of-three multisignature bitcoin wallet in which you hold two keys and Uphold one. It is a reasonable idea; whether it is worth a subscription when good free wallets exist is another matter.
The regulatory record, stated neutrally. In March 2023 Uphold paid $72,230 to the US Treasury’s sanctions office over 152 transactions involving sanctioned countries, which the office described as non-egregious and voluntarily disclosed. In April 2026 it paid $5 million to the New York Attorney General over its 2019-2020 promotion of CredEarn, a lending product run by a company that later went bankrupt; Uphold publicly disputes the Attorney General’s account and says it was itself a victim. We found no hack of the exchange itself. Its status page does show frequent incidents, including one it rated critical in February 2026.
Reviews are split. Uphold has 4.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot from about 27,500 reviews and 4.7 on Apple’s App Store, but the Better Business Bureau logged 298 complaints in three years, and the one-star reviews tell a consistent story: accounts restricted, repeated verification requests, withdrawals frozen while support replies slowly.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Free bank deposits, and bitcoin withdrawals cost only a small fixed network fee.
- Publishes its reserves in real time and says it does not lend customer funds.
- One account for crypto, stocks, metals and currencies, with an optional multisignature bitcoin vault.
Cons
- Expensive for bitcoin: a spread of 1.8% to 1.95%, plus $0.99 on trades under $500, so a small buy costs around 4%.
- Not available in New York, no new accounts in Louisiana, and bank-funded bitcoin cannot be withdrawn for up to five business days.
- A $5 million New York settlement in 2026 and a sanctions settlement in 2023, plus a steady stream of complaints about restricted accounts and slow support.
Taxes
Uphold issues Form 1099-DA for sales and trades, and a 1099-MISC if you earn more than $600 from staking or promotions. It calculates cost basis by assuming your highest-cost coins are sold first. See Bitcoin and Taxes.
Who it’s for
Uphold suits someone who genuinely wants several kinds of asset in one app, or who moves between currencies and wants to do it in a single step. If you only want bitcoin, you will pay two to four times more here than at Kraken, Strike or River, for no benefit. This is education, not financial or tax advice.
Next
- How to buy bitcoin: the general process, whichever service you pick.
- Compare all the exchanges side by side.
- Keeping your bitcoin safe: two-factor login, done properly.