Uphold debit card review 2024
- Card cost
- £9.95
- Loading methods
- Bank transfer, Debit card, Credit card
Summary
A genuinely innovative product, but one that will require a change in the public's mindset in order to succeed.
Uphold's debit card with its e-money account lets you spend crypto, national currencies and commodities wherever Mastercard is accepted and earn "cryptoback" (like cashback but with crypto) along the way. You set your funding source in the app (choosing from any asset Uphold supports) and that'll be used for purchases until you change it.
But for this card to succeed, Uphold will need to persuade users that "buy and hold" isn't the only strategy.
Pros
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Access the value in your assets easily and switch funding source as often as you like (probably to whatever asset is doing well at the time!). Unlike some other crypto cards, no manual conversion into fiat currency is required.
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Uphold doesn’t charge deposit, withdrawal (excludes cash) or transaction fees at home or abroad.
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Earn crypto-back as you spend.
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Get a virtual card so you don’t have to wait for the physical card to arrive. Hook your virtual card up to Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Cons
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The jury’s out on whether selling off assets for day-to-day spending is a good thing!
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You’re likely to pay a spread if your funding source is not the same as the fiat currency Uphold will use to settle the transaction with the merchant.
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Getting issued with your physical card (and any replacement physical cards) incurs a fee.
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Cash withdrawals at ATMs incur a fee.
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Money in your account isn't protected as much as it would be in a bank.
Details
Card overview
| Name | Uphold debit card |
| Card cost | £9.95 |
| Supported fiat currencies | GBP, AUD, EUR, CAD, CZK, DKK, USD, HKD, HUF, JPY, CHF, NOK, PLN, RON, SEK |
| App available? | Yes |
| Physical Card? | Yes |
| Loading methods | Bank transfer, Debit card, Credit card |
Estimated reading time: 2 min
Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk.
What are the key risks?
1. You could lose all the money you invest
- The performance of most cryptoassets can be highly volatile, with their value dropping as quickly as it can rise. You should be prepared to lose all the money you invest in cryptoassets.
- The cryptoasset market is largely unregulated. There is a risk of losing money or any cryptoassets you purchase due to risks such as cyber-attacks, financial crime and firm failure.
2. You should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong
- The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) doesn't protect this type of investment because it's not a 'specified investment' under the UK regulatory regime – in other words, this type of investment isn't recognised as the sort of investment that the FSCS can protect. Learn more by using the FSCS investment protection checker.
- The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) will not be able to consider complaints related to this firm or Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA regulated firm, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here.
3. You may not be able to sell your investment when you want to
- There is no guarantee that investments in cryptoassets can be easily sold at any given time. The ability to sell a cryptoasset depends on various factors, including the supply and demand in the market at that time.
- Operational failings such as technology outages, cyber-attacks and comingling of funds could cause unwanted delay and you may be unable to sell your cryptoassets at the time you want.
4. Cryptoasset investments can be complex
- Investments in cryptoassets can be complex, making it difficult to understand the risks associated with the investment.
- You should do your own research before investing. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
5. Don't put all your eggs in one basket
- Putting all your money into a single type of investment is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well.
- A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments.
If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA's website here.
For further information about cryptoassets, visit the FCA's website here.
Now launched in the UK, the revolutionary Uphold debit card is all about making it easier to dip into assets you hold as and when it suits you.
How does the Uphold debit card work?
The card works in tandem with the app. You’ll need to set your funding source in the app, choosing from any asset you own on Uphold. Don’t worry – you don’t have to do this every time you want to use the card – your funding source will stay the same until you change it again (which you can do as often as you like, without fee). You can also use the app to freeze or unfreeze your card, see virtual cards, receive instant alerts, browse statements broken down by funding source and manage notifications.
Then actually using the Mastercard online or at a physical merchant is just the same as any other card. All transactions are actually settled in the local fiat currency, so you won’t have to deal with your barista asking you why on earth you’re trying to pay for your latte in Bitcoin. Uphold does all the complex stuff behind the scenes – shielding both you and the merchant from seeing market orders being executed to liquidate assets.
How much does the Uphold debit card cost?
Let’s start with funding the account. Uphold doesn’t charge you a deposit fee when you fund your Uphold account by bank transfer. There are no trading commissions when you buy or sell assets either, so we’re doing well so far. The virtual card is completely free to activate, but a physical card incurs a one-time fee of £9.95.
There are no foreign transaction fees when you use the card abroad and no annual fees to pay. However, there is a £2.50 fee for ATM withdrawals in the UK, which jumps to £3.50 for cash withdrawals made while abroad.
But if you don’t plan to use the Uphold debit card to withdraw cash, then aside from any issuance fee, what’s the catch? The good news is that there is no service fee applied to transactions made using the Uphold debit card.
However, keep in mind that Uphold does charge a spread for buying and selling cryptocurrencies. A spread is a small difference between the “bid” price (the highest price at which a buyer is willing to buy an asset) and the “ask price” (the lowest price at which a seller is willing to sell an asset). When you see that a particular asset is worth say, £1, you’re probably seeing the “mid-market rate”. In reality, market orders are executing slightly above and below this price, so that the buyer is paying perhaps £1.01 and the seller is receiving perhaps £0.99, with the £0.02 covering the exchange’s costs.
Spreads can be a bit of a moving target – changing over time depending on liquidity, and varying from asset to asset. Uphold’s spreads for UK consumers max-out at 1.25%.
What else do I need to know?
There aren’t many different fees involved with Uphold (both the trading platform and the card), which is great. Some exchanges have all sorts of fees and aren’t always upfront about them. But there are spreads involved everytime you exchange one asset for another. Don’t forget that all card transactions will be settled in fiat currency, so if you’ve set your funding source to Bitcoin, for example, then that will actually need to be converted to fiat currency in order to settle the transaction.
There’s little doubt that this is set to become a really innovative product. It encourages users to think of their investments as being relatively fluid, which is in stark contrast to the traditional “buy and hold” advice. For the card to really take off, a change in mindset may be required. For most of us who aren’t Wall Street pros, the reality of jumping between assets all the time and blurring the lines between investments and day-to-day spending money, means introducing a greater degree of chance into the value of what’s in our wallet.
Customer service information for Uphold
| Email support | |
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| Telephone support | |
| In-app or live chat | |
| Contact form | |
| Branch support |
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