About Uphold
From the Uphold website:
Uphold serves 184+ countries, across 20+ currencies and metals with frictionless foreign exchange, cross-border remittance and Virtual Mastercard enabled ecommerce for members around the world. Since launch in 2015, Uphold has powered more than US$1 billion in transactions.
Why I chose Uphold for my Digital Wallet
Honestly, I didn't do too much research on other platforms and selected Uphold based on the fact that they accepted users from Hawaii. Coinbase stopped operations in Hawaii earlier this year and my account was closed because of misguided local regulation that dictated that digital currency operators keep cash reserves equivalent to the value of the digital currency held for customers.
Crazy, right?!
Definitely not in Hawaii with Coinbase as your wallet.
So, I wasn't too picky, found Uphold who accepts Hawaii users and have been fairly happy so far.
What Currencies Does Uphold Currently Accept?
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin (BTC)
Litecoin (LTC)
Ethereum (ETH)
Basic Attention Token (BAT)
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Currencies
U.S. Dollars (USD)
Euros (EUR)
Pounds (GBP)
Yuan (CNY)
Yen (JPY)
Swiss Franc (CHF)
Indian Rupee (INR)
Mexican Pesos (MXN)
Australian Dollars (AUD)
Canadian Dollars (CAD)
Hong Kong Dollars (HKD)
New Zealand Dollars (NZD)
Singapore Dollars (SGD)
Kenyan Shillings (KES)
Israeli Shekel (ILS)
Danish Krone (DKK)
Norwegian Krone (NOK)
Swedish Krona (SEK)
Polish Zloty (PLN)
Argentine Peso (ARS)
Brazilian Real (BRL)
United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED)
Philippine Peso (PHP)
Precious Metals
Gold (XAU)
Silver (XAG)
Platinum (XPT)
Palladium (XPL)
What are Uphold's Fees?
Uphold has a pretty straightforward fee schedule. Bitcoin exchange fees are currently fairly reasonable at 1.05%. Ethereum and the other cryptos are at 1.4%, except for BAT and Voxel which are higher at 1.9%.
My Thoughts on Uphold
I've found uphold to be very easy to use and the fees to be reasonable. My only complaint so far is just the waiting period with which it takes to have access to bank account deposits. They say these can take up to 5 business days. With the weekend it can take a full week to be able to trade with your funds. This is about how long it took my deposit, which was frustrating when I had the itch to trade, etc.
All in all, though, I would recommend Uphold. Admittedly, I am not a whale and do not have a huge portfolio, but for the noob with a smallish budget like me I think it's great.
You can create an account with Uphold at Uphold.com.
What Wallets do you recommend?
I'd love to hear what wallets you recommend. Big question: do they accept users from Hawaii?
If you found this post useful or interesting, please do upvote, share and follow me as I work through my 100 day challenge. In a fit of insanity, I have challenged myself to post a long blog post every day for 100 days. I am blogging on a wide range of topics, from chess, to motivation, running and more.
As always, mahalo for reading!