Uphold is a company founded in 2013 in New York, that launched its website in 2015 with a wide range of financial services. It is common to ask ourselves if Uphold is FDIC insured when we want to invest in this platform to ensure that all our assets are safe.
The company has various products and asset classes using integration through trading. In addition, it does not charge withdrawal fees, deposit fees, or trading commissions, offering a one-of-a-kind marketplace for digital and physical assets trading.
Products offered by Uphold
This is a platform with more than 7 million customers, and it allows trading with different assets, within which are:
Cryptocurrencies
They have more than 150 digital currencies, including the most popular ones, tokens and stablecoins. They facilitate crypto purchases by connecting to 36 banks worldwide and allowing credit and debit card payments without inconveniences, connecting to 7 blockchain networks.
Precious Metals
Precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum, and palladium can be purchased and easily held with Uphold. You can also trade for immediate liquidity in 27 national currencies with 0% custody fees.
Buying and selling shares
In the US, you can access fractional shares of the exchanges so you can buy shares of major companies for as little as $1. In addition, Uphold will pay declared dividends, thus receiving a proportionate share of the dividends in exchange for your investment.
Debit card
We are able to pay with cryptocurrencies, metals, and coins while using our Uphold debit card. This card is accepted at more than 50 million merchants and ATMs worldwide, with no foreign transaction fees.
The security offered to their customers
Uphold’s main goal is to safeguard your money and personal information. As a result, the systems adhere to the strictest security requirements throughout the platform. To keep your data safe and secure different processes are carried out:
Verification
To make transactions, it is basic that we verify our identity, and for this, the company has password limitations and email verification in case they find something suspicious. They will also send us emails when unusual activity is detected.
Authentication
Using these free app services, they offer a unique security key linked to your Uphold account. The application will generate a verification code every 30 seconds, which will be needed for certain activities such as withdrawals or completing transactions.
These codes are six digits long, and the password is also required to ensure security. The most commonly used application is Google Authenticator, although other options are available.
Security key
This is a 32-digit number that is provided only when two-step verification security is enabled. We must enter this key in the authentication application during setup to obtain these codes.
Electronic Identity Verification
This feature is available in the United States, and in this verification, no selfies are taken, so the failure rate is much lower. However, at the moment, this feature is under development, and the goal is to provide a much smoother experience by simply collecting some specific data upfront.
What insurance does Uphold offer?
Uphold has insurance coverage for the loss of cryptocurrencies, such as a security breach or hacking, employee theft, or fraudulent transfer. This insurance will increase the value of all assets held in our offline storage.
On the other hand, Uphold’s insurance coverage does not cover losses incurred due to unauthorized access to our account. To avoid such problems, we will need to use strong passwords and two-step verification to access our account and authorize withdrawals.
We must bear in mind that, as it is a digital currency, there is no government backing. For this reason, it will not be subject to the safeguards of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, or the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, or SIPC.
Third-Party Due Diligence
Uphold has strict due diligence processes for all service providers due to the confidential data handled on the website. For this reason, it will always verify all potential service providers and partners by conducting an assessment to analyze security procedures.
This is why each third party working with the platform will have to comply with the following:
- Always maintain the confidentiality of all customer information.
- Allow Uphold to audit data security measures.
- Maintain safeguards for all consumer data.
- Immediately notify Uphold in the event of a breach of material security.
Cold Storage Options
Since Uphold is not covered by the FDIC, at the European level, the company protects money by keeping it in an offline storage solution. This is done for 90% of the cryptocurrencies on the platform, and they are protected by a multi-signature method, ensuring that no one person has permission to transfer them.
To maintain liquidity in the service, 10% is held on secure servers over the internet. If our account is compromised, we will have to inform Uphold immediately to restrict access and avoid any withdrawals until our account is completely protected.