Uphold proposes the prospect of “de-banking” and will soon launch a Spanish version of its website

Uphold is a company that provides free transfer and currency exchange services powered by blockchain technology. In 2016, Uphold announced a series of partnerships and was recently listed as one of the hottest fintech companies by IDG.

Uphold, formerly known as Bitcoin Reserve, changed its name in October 2015 to change the image of a Bitcoin-focused company. Instead, Uphold chose to become a broader brand to gain more users, thus providing everyone with access to financial services, especially those who believe in “无银行化” .

Anthony Watson, CEO and President of Uphold, told BTCMANAGER:

“Today, more than 50% of the world’s adult population has no access to banking or basic financial services. The traditional and fragmented global financial system is set up so that those in our society who can afford it the least pay the most for basic banking services. This is wrong, but Upchi is changing that.

Founded in 2013, Uphold is still a young startup, but it already has some impressive records. During 2015, its first full year of operation, Uphold’s transaction volume grew by 2,070%. In 2015, Uphold’s transaction volume reached $700.4 million, making it the fastest growing fintech funding platform in the world. Today, Uphold serves more than 33,000 users from 174 countries.

Halsey Minor, founder and chairman of Uphold, is a technology entrepreneur and founder of the famous media website CNET. Minor is a key figure in digital publishing innovation, making CNET a NASDAQ 100 company and one of the first profitable companies on the Internet. Halsey sold CNET to CBS Corporation for $1.8 billion in 2008.

Watson, CEO and President of Uphold, held senior executive positions at Citibank, Wells Fargo, Barclays and Nike before joining Uphold in April 2015.

With rich leadership experience, Uphold also relies on a strong partnership strategy. Uphold has two different groups of partners: development partners who build applications and services based on Uphold APIs; and growth partners who rely on Uphold to manage operating funds.

Basically, Uphold provides users with the ability to transfer, exchange, hold and trade in any form of money or commodity, instantly, securely and free of charge. Users' funds are placed in legally segregated accounts, and anyone can confirm the balance of payments, transaction flow, solvency, assets and liabilities, and the overall financial health of Uphold in real time.

Uphold doesn’t want to replace payment networks, instead it wants to be a replacement for banks. Minor has said he envisions a world where traditional banks are completely replaced in five years, and you store your money in the cloud and use your phone to make transactions.

The next step for Uphold is to release储蓄卡and allow users to use the funds in their Uphold accounts.

“In addition to consumer applications, the Uphold platform can be used by commercial companies and charities in any industry, and is a particularly useful solution for complex supply chain payments and currency hedging and processing,” said Watson. “Uphold is also working directly with companies in India and Latin America to create ways to reduce remittance fees and enable more accessible and cost-effective mobile-based financial services.”

Other firsts from Uphold include piloting a lending market on the platform and adding “alternative assets” such as in-game currencies, airline miles and loyalty points.

Recently, Uphold launched西班牙语版本its website. Every day, hundreds of new Spanish-speaking members from the United States and Spain join Uphold, in part due to innovative Uphold Connect applications such as AirTM, Bitwage and BeeWallet. Among them:

AirTM enables members in Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Mexico to deposit and withdraw local currency from their Uphold wallets using local bank accounts, Paypal and other networks.
Bitwage has enhanced its instant and free international payment processing process and is particularly popular among Latin American members.
BeeWallet is an iOS app that enables Spanish-speaking members to directly withdraw cash at 10,000 ATMs.

For the full year 2016, Uphold expects to earn $15.3 million in revenue.