Uphold Review 2025: Pros, Cons and How It Compares

Where Uphold shines

Thousands of crypto-crypto trading pairs: Uphold allows trading between any two of the assets it supports. Given that it supports hundreds of cryptocurrencies, that amounts to tens of thousands of possible trading pairs.

Staking offerings: Uphold offers staking on more than a dozen coins, and a top APY well over 15%. It has one of the widest and highest-paying staking offerings of any platform we review.

Where Uphold falls short

Limited customer service offerings: Uphold only offers email support and a digital assistant. That's fairly standard among crypto platforms, but it pales in comparison to the few that offer true phone support, such as Kraken and Interactive Brokers Crypto.

High transaction fee: Uphold's purchase fee for Bitcoin isn't the highest among crypto platforms we review, but it isn't the lowest, either. Some of Uphold's competitors have done away with purchase fees entirely for certain payment methods.

Uphold is best for:

• Beginner crypto investors.

• Crypto pair traders.

• Stakers.

Uphold at a glance

More details about Uphold's ratings

Trading and transaction fees: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Uphold's transaction fee ranges from 1.4% to 1.6% for buying Bitcoin and Ethereum. That's middle-of-the-road compared to the fees from other crypto platforms we review. Some charge higher fees, but others have eliminated purchase fees entirely, at least for certain payment methods. Crypto.com only charges a percentage fee on credit or debit card orders, while Robinhood charges a spread but no set trading fee.

Uphold's Bitcoin withdrawal fee is 0.000075 BTC, or about $6.00 at the time of last update. That's on the lower end among platforms that charge a fee for transferring out crypto, although some platforms, such as Coinbase, Gemini and Robinhood charge no Bitcoin withdrawal fees beyond network fees.

Minimum trade: 5 out of 5 stars

Uphold earns high marks for its low minimums. Users can invest as little as $1, and the minimum Bitcoin withdrawal is 0.00007 BTC (about $5.60 at the time of last update). Both are some of the lowest minimums among crypto platforms we review.

Number of cryptocurrencies: 5 out of 5 stars

Uphold gives users the ability to trade more than 300 cryptocurrencies, putting it in the upper echelon of crypto platforms we review in terms of investment selection.

Crypto-to-crypto trading pairs: 5 out of 5 stars

For crypto pair traders, Uphold has among the most extensive offerings of any crypto platform we review. Given that there are more than 300 cryptocurrencies available on Uphold, that works out to tens of thousands of possible crypto-crypto trading pairs.

Staking and rewards: 4.5 out of 5 stars

In March 2025, Uphold was one of several crypto platforms to re-launch staking rewards after the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped staking-related lawsuits against several other platforms. It offers rewards on 19 coins, the second-highest number among crypto platforms we review.

Uphold's staking APY runs as high as 17.6% for certain coins — also the second-highest number among crypto platforms we review. Of those, only Crypto.com offers a wider selection of stake-able coins, and only Kraken pays a higher top APY.

Mobile app: 5 out of 5 stars

Uphold's mobile app is available for iOS and Android, where it gets good ratings from users — the average score is 4.5 stars or higher on both app stores. App store reviewers appreciate the app's wide investment selection and many features, but say that customer service is somewhat lacking, and warn that the app experiences occasional technical issues.

Uphold's full-self-custody (fully user-controlled) wallet, UpHODL, is a separate app, and gets lower ratings; it averages 2.5 stars between the iOS and Android app stores. Several app store reviewers complained that once they transferred tokens to UpHODL, they found it difficult to send them anywhere else.

Customer support options: 2 out of 5 stars

Uphold offers email support and 24/7 automated help by chat, but no live phone support. That's in line with the customer support options of many other crypto platforms, but it could be better. A few of Uphold's competitors offer 24/7 phone support via a call-back feature.

Other features you should know about

Wallet options: Uphold offers three hot (online) crypto wallet options. The simplest is Uphold Wallet, a non-custodial (Uphold-controlled) hot wallet that supports all the assets available on Uphold. The company also offers UpHODL, a full-self-custody hot wallet that supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, ERC-20 tokens (a family of tokens that use the Ethereum blockchain) and NFTs, and supports trading directly from the wallet. UpHODL is a separate app from Uphold.

Then there's Uphold Vault, an "assisted self-custody" hot wallet — basically a self-custody hot wallet with a secure key recovery service for users who have lost their keys. Uphold claims that Vault has "instant access to the Uphold trading platform," but the wallet only supports Bitcoin, XRP, RLUSD, SOLO, CORE and HBAR at the time of last update (although the company says it will add support for more networks this year). Vault is available through the Uphold app. It charges a subscription, either $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year.

Uphold also gives users the option to transfer crypto to a cold (offline) wallet of their choice.

USD Interest Account: Much like certain online brokers we review, Uphold allows investors to opt-in to a high yield savings account for uninvested cash. The USD Interest Account, as Uphold calls it, is FDIC-insured. At the time of last update, it pays 2% interest on balances under $1,000, and 4.4% on balances over that amount.

Uphold Academy: Uphold's educational offerings feature dozens of thorough articles on crypto investing topics for beginner, intermediate and advanced investors alike. For now, their educational content only seems to be available in written form. On the Uphold Academy website, each article features a video player at the top, but Uphold doesn't seem to have added video content to those yet.

Is Uphold right for you?

Uphold offers a wide selection of cryptocurrencies, low minimums, best-in-class crypto pair trading functionality, several wallet options, and one of the highest-paying staking programs of any crypto platform we review.

Its transaction fee could be lower, and its customer support could be stronger, but on the whole, Uphold is a well-rounded crypto app with features that will appeal to beginners and advanced crypto investors alike.

Methodology