Uphold

Uphold
Formerly called
 Bitreserve
Industry Financial services, technology
Founded 2013 (2013)
Founder Halsey Minor
Headquarters Charleston
Key people
 Adrian Steckel (CEO & Chairman)
Website uphold.com

Uphold (formerly Bitreserve) is a cloud-based financial services platform enabling users to convert deposits to their account via bank account, credit card in addition to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin , litecoin and ethereum into reserve-backed currencies and commodities allowing anyone with a device to send, receive, and exchange money and commodities.[1] Headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, with offices in Larkspur, Braga, London, and Shanghai, Uphold allows users to convert bitcoin into "cloud money,"[2] in 29 currencies (dollars, euros, yen, rupee and others) and 4 precious metals (Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Palladium).[3] The company also has an open API[4] and has stated interest in addressing the remittance market through partnerships with the retail outlet Elektra and the Salinas Group.[5] (Remittances from the US to Mexico alone ran to an estimated $22 billion last year, according to the World Bank.)[6] Though Uphold holds bitcoins as stable, real-world currency, Anthony Watson, the former CEO, has stated it is "not a bitcoin company. In terms of bitcoin's relevance to us, it is a means to an end."[7]

History

Uphold (previously Bitreserve),[8][9] founded by Halsey Minor in 2013, is a company born out of Minor's own difficult experience with finances and financial institutions in the past.[4][10] Through his personal struggles he became aware of the importance of currency stability, and grew perceptive to the lack of inclusion and transparency in traditional financial services. In May 2014, Uphold launched its private beta program and in October 2014, Uphold launched for public use.[4] The rationale behind the company and "[Minor's] goal was to make money free and easy to use."[4] Additionally, the crash of 2008 showcased a need for more transparent financial institutions and for a better solution to traditional banking. These circumstances have inspired Minor and his growing team at uphold to push the limits of financial technology services and strive to make it more accessible, affordable, and secure.

In July 2016, Uphold announced a new pricing structure, removing the previous .05% withdrawal free, new exchange rates and improved transparency.[11] Reduced fee's for China UnionPay on-boarding value to less than half the original fee - dropping from 3.8% to 1.8%.Transactions between users remain free.

In June 2015, Uphold removed all fees regarding money transfer for verified members, making it a low-cost financial technology services company.[12] Its users are now "able to instantaneously exchange and convert world currencies for low fees.""Previously, Uphold charged 0.45% commission for BTC-USD transactions."[13] This function was further inspired by Minor's personal frustrations with the lack of transparency and efficiency in traditional banking services. In his own words, "The legacy finance industry has grown adept at hiding costs from customers — where they extract fees from those in society who can least afford it. Now that Uphold offers its members the ability to convert and exchange money for free, all of us together take another giant leap toward replacing the current global financial system with one that is fair, inclusive, accountable and transparent — a system organized for the benefit of all people everywhere."[14]

In June 2015, Uphold also launched a new platform for application programming interfaces (APIs) called Uphold Connect, in an effort to expand the company from a Bitcoin-based service to "an open platform for the currency exchange and transactions online and on mobile devices."[15] Uphold also announced its partnerships with associate companies using its services, including Grupo Salinas banking and Elektra SA, made possible by the new API platform.[15] Minor has described Connect as "a nexus that will drive functionality and partnerships 1,000 times faster than they would otherwise have been."[15]

Services and Features

Uphold offers free accounts and transfers between users for a variety of supported currencies and commodities, low cost metal holdings and movement, and additionally for all verified members, allows for low cost currency conversions. Users are able to make currency exchanges in 29 major currencies, and can also convert these currencies into precious metals, at the mid-market rate.[2] Since the launch of their new open API platform, Uphold Connect, enables third party companies to integrate with Uphold – allowing their own users to hold money in various currencies, as well as transact in Bitcoin, online and on mobile devices.[16][17] The company announced partners Monoji, AirTm and Payzing, Bitwage and LibertyX.[18][19][20] The company also provides two transparency features: the Reserveledger, a public record of all changes made to Uphold assets, and the Reservechain, a real time public record of all users’ transactions that occur across the company's network. The accuracy of both features are verified by accountants each quarter.[21] Uphold is the first financial service to date to publish a real-time reserve. When speaking on the importance of the Reservechain and company solvency, Minor said "It will allow [users] to construct, at any moment in time, an exact balance sheet for the organization. It will be the definitive record of our obligations to our members."[16]

Funding

On January 19, 2015, the company closed its Series B and raised $9.6 million via crowdfunding efforts in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom.[5] Uphold worked with UK crowdfunding company, CrowdCube, and online U.S. brokerage company, Venovate, to achieve this, which was the second largest crowdfunding effort in the digital currency sector to date.[22] The company has also received significant investments from Ricardo Salinas-Pleigo in order to develop their remittance solutions.[23] Uphold has raised $14.6 million in funding so far, as stated in April 2015.[24]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wong, Joon Ian (30 October 2014). "Bitreserve Launches With Real-Time Transparency Data". CoinDesk. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  2. 1 2 'Cloud Money' to be Disruptive (Flash video). CNBC. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Shieber, Jonathan (3 December 2014). "Bitreserve Brings Bitcoin to Gold Standard". TechCrunch. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 DeMartino, Ian (21 November 2014). "Halsey Minor's Bitreserve Is Designed To Fix Bitcoin Volatility, But It Is Doing Much More". CoinTelegraph. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  5. 1 2 Casey, Michael J.; Vigna, Paul (19 March 2015). "BitBeat: Bitreserve Adds Pesos, Rupees; U.K. Embraces Bitcoin". MoneyBeat. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Vigna, Paul (22 October 2015). "CNET Founder Readies Bitreserve Launch in Bid to Quell Bitcoin Volatility". MoneyBeat. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  7. ↑ Finnegan, Matthew (22 May 2015). "Ex-Barclays CIO Anthony Watson on joining a startup". CIO. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Shieber, Jonathan (14 October 2015). "Rebranding As Uphold, Bitreserve Says Goodbye To Bitcoin". TechCrunch. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  9. ↑ Roberts, Daniel (14 October 2015). "This bitcoin startup is changing its name and moving away from bitcoin". Fortune. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  10. ↑ Vigna, Paul; Casey, Michael J. (15 May 2015). "BitBeat: Bitreserve Vows Bitcoin-Like Costs, No Bitcoin-Like Volatility". MoneyBeat. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  11. ↑ Pereira, Jorge (2016-07-26). "(Press Release) Uphold introduces new pricing structure". Uphold. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  12. ↑ Kharpal, Arjun (12 June 2015). "A bitcoin start-up has made exchanging currency free". CNBC. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  13. ↑ Chernykh, Polina (13 June 2015). "BitReserve Now Lets You Convert and Exchange Money Absolutely for Free". Coinspeaker. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  14. ↑ Demartino, Ian (11 June 2015). "Bitreserve Eliminates Fees For Currency Conversion". Mining Pool. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  15. 1 2 3 Shieber, Jonathan (16 June 2015). "Bitreserve Launches API For Its Currency Conversions And Payments Platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  16. 1 2 Wong, Joon Ian (14 June 2014). "CNET's Halsey Minor on Bankruptcy, Financial Disruption and His 'Reserve Bank' for Bitcoin". CoinDesk. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  17. ↑ Carter, Eric (18 June 2015). "Bitreserve Launches API Platform for Currency Exchange". ProgrammableWeb. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  18. ↑ Parsa, Tim (2016-06-15). "(Press Release) Introducing Uphold App Monoji: Send emojis with money attached on Slack!". Uphold. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  19. ↑ Parsa, Tim (2016-06-08). "(Press Release) AirTM expands cashier network to Brazil, Colombia, and Panama, available in and open to clients in over 190 countries". Uphold. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  20. ↑ Parsa, Tim (2016-05-12). "(Press Release) Payzing integrates with Uphold to help online merchants and ecommerce platforms reap benefits of cloud money". Uphold. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  21. ↑ Prisco, Giulio (31 October 2014). "Bitreserve Is Open For Business". Crypto Coins News. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  22. ↑ "Venovate Helps Bitreserve Reach $10M Fundraising Target With Access to the "Qualified Crowd"" (Press release). Venovate. Market Wired. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  23. ↑ Wilhelm, Colin (20 March 2015). "Bitcoin Conversion Service Gets Prominent Investor, Adds Currencies". American Banker. SourceMedia. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  24. ↑ Roberts, Daniel (6 April 2015). "The former CIO of Nike is joining a bitcoin startup". Fortune. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
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