8 Differences Between Coinmama and Uphold

What are the differences between Coinmama and Uphold? Out of the many different types of crypto exchanges available out there, Coinmama and Uphold have made their mark in the market with their distinctive services and features.

If you are wondering which among these two platforms will best suit your crypto trading needs, you are in the right place.

You will not need to look any further because this article has everything covered for you to have a better understanding.

While one of these crypto platforms is aimed at those individual users who are looking for a crypto exchange that is easily accessible from anywhere in the world for buying and selling Bitcoin as well as other Altcoins fast, the other offers a new kind of user experience and financial freedom.

In addition to that, there are several other areas in which these two platforms differ. To know about them all you will need to sift through the internet for comprehensive research.

Alternatively, you can go through this article to cut short your research. All those areas in which these two crypto trading platforms differ are covered in this article for you so that you have an enhanced knowledge to choose the right type of crypto exchange for you.

These areas include their fees, security aspects, trading options, coins support and lots more.

8 Differences Between Coinmama and Uphold

Though Coinmama and Uphold serve the same purpose, it does not mean any one of them will be suitable for you for trading your crypto coins.

Since it all depends on your trading needs and style, you must first find out the differences between the platforms and then determine whether or not it serves your purpose fully.

Here are a few important things to know about these two platforms that you should know to make a quick decision.

Take some time to read it without skipping any part of it to make a better head-to-head comparison.

1. Tradable Coins

In terms of the crypto coins offered by these two platforms for trading, there is a notable difference in the types and numbers both.

According to the information available on the Uphold website, the platform supports more than twenty different types of crypto coins over and above the most common ones supported by most of the major fiat-to-crypto exchanges which include USD, EUR, GBP, and CNY. This platform also supports BTC, BCH, ETH, DASH, LBA, BAT, BTG, XRP and LTC. In addition to that, Uphold also supports more than one thousand trading pairs for the users to trade.

Coinmama, on the other hand, supports trading mainly with Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum as the major ones. However, it also supports several other types of and less common crypto coins such as Qtum, Tezos, and Cardano.

The other coins supported by it include Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Ethereum Classic, and EOS.

2. Fees

Fees charged by the respective platforms are very important to compare the usefulness and feasibility according to your crypto trading needs, and both these platforms have a different fee structure.

The fee structure of Uphold is as follows:

• It charges fees from the customers to make deposits in their Uphold account
• The trading fees charged by this platform is 0.65% and
• The withdrawal fee charged by it is $2.99.

In addition to that, the Uphold pricing schedule also includes a unique zero-commission model for, depositing, withdrawing, buying and selling different financial assets including ETFs and stocks, apart from crypto coins.

Though the platform does not include any undisclosed and additional spread once an order or trade is previewed, the price does include a small spread at this preview stage itself. Therefore, you pay the price as you see, and it is certainly not free.

Also, the platform charges exchange fees that are variable and depend on the type of asset used for converting. For crypto coins, it ranges between 0.80% and 1.20% which is much different from the exchange fees charged for metals, stocks, and forex currencies.

In the case of moving funds from the platform through bank transfer, the trading fee is charged at a flat rate of $3.99 over and above any third-party costs that may be applicable in a few cases such as the blockchain network fees and bank wire costs in specific geographical locations.

However, for withdrawals, if you use any European bank via payment services such as SEPA and to any US bank via ACH bank transfer, you do not have to pay any fees. But, for card usage, the platform will charge fees as under:

• $2.50 for each transaction for domestic withdrawals and
• $3.50 for every transaction for international withdrawals.

On the other hand, the fee structure of Coinmama is as follows:

• The platform charges a 5% credit card fee when it comes to making deposits by the users
• The users need to pay quite a high fee for trading on the platform which is up to 3.90% and
• The withdrawal fees users need to pay to Coinmama is 5% on credit cards.

Apart from that, the platform also charges commissions and bank transfer fees. However, Coinmama allows the users to reduce their commissions on trades if they belong to and use the tiered loyalty levels.

These levels are determined on the basis of the number of purchases made on the platform. The levels and fees charged are as under:

• For the Crypto Curious level, standard fees are charged
• For the Crypto Enthusiast level, users can save up to 12.5% if purchases worth $5,000 is made over a 90-day rolling period and
• For the Crypto Believer level, they can save up to 25% for purchases worth $18,000 for a 90-day rolling period or more than $50,000 as lifetime purchases.

You should however visit the respective websites of these two platforms to know about the current fees to find out whether or not there is any variance or amendments made.

3. Security

The security features and practices followed by Uphold are much better than Coinmama to ensure absolute safety to the funds and accounts of the users.

On the other hand, the security aspect of Coinmama is nothing exceptional. It is, in fact, just good enough to keep your funds safe.

Coinmama follows a reasonably good identity verification process to prevent any fraudster from opening an account in your name and operates as a regulated company being registered with FinCEN.

All the transactions made on this platform are processed by its owner, New Bit Ventures by using a 3D secure authentication process, especially if those are credit card transactions.

Most importantly, Coinmama does not store your data or funds in the systems and therefore you need not worry about anyone hacking into your account through the platform.

4. Working Process

Coinmama follows quite a simple working process just like any other crypto exchange. You can sell Bitcoin and buy a collection of crypto coins once you create your account and get it verified.

You will simply have to log in and choose the specific types of crypto coin you want to purchase considering the options offered and the exchange rates that are listed in the local currency which may be in USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, and JPY. In order to complete the transaction, all you have to do is:

• Select the amount you wish to buy
• Enter the desired payment method and
• Enter your wallet address.

Payments are received in fiat currency by this platform but in that case, your bank may charge a fee from you. Otherwise, you can choose any of the following payment options such as:

• A credit card
• A debit card
• Apple Pay or
• Bank transfer other than American Express, PayPal, Discover, and ACH transfer.

You will receive the desired amount of coins in your wallet within an hour.

While selling Bitcoin, it is required that you stay in a SEPA European country. Then you will have to qualify for it and once you do you will need to follow these steps:

• Log in to your account
• Click on the ‘Sell’ option
• Enter the amount
• Enter the wallet address or scan a QR code.

However, you will need to wait for a couple of days for processing your transaction. The payment will be deposited in your bank account.

This platform however abstains from:

• Facilitating trades between buyers and sellers and every transaction is made with the platform itself
• Letting the users exchange one crypto type for another as it is always purchased with the local currency and is paid in Euro while selling Bitcoin and
• Including a wallet or facilitating other types of investing.

On the other hand, the working process of Uphold exchange involves reducing the cost of the transaction of crypto coins.

The platform typically matches the crypto buyers and sellers on it and for that it charges a trading fee along with a spread which is included in the price against all of the crypto assets.

5. Salient Features

Here are a few salient features of the two platforms that differentiate each other.

As for Coinmama, the top features include rolling limits. This signifies the high transaction and spending limits which may go even higher when you buy more on this platform. The limits offered to each user are dependent on the different verification levels such as:

• Level 1, where identity is verified and the buying and selling limit is $15,000 for 50 orders
• Level 2, when $2,400 worth purchase of crypto coins are made on this platform to get a buying and selling limit of $50,000 for 50 orders
• Level 3, where the buying and selling limit is $100,000 for 50 orders and
• Higher and custom transaction limits that are offered when the account goes through VIP verification successfully.

All these limits are determined on the 30-day period and not a calendar month.

In addition to that, Coinmama also allows buying with a Visa or MasterCard debit or credit card or Apple Pay, SEPA bank transfer in Europe, SWIFT in the United Kingdom, and wire transfer outside the UK and Europe.

However, purchasing or selling of crypto coins cannot be made via the platform directly. You can do it for fiat currency.

The platform allows fast verification of the identity of the account holder so that they can start trading immediately. The steps to follow for Level 1 verification include uploading:

• A picture of the front and back of an ID issued by the government and
• Your photo holding a piece of paper with ‘Coinmama’ written on it along with the date.

The time taken for an account to get verified may take anywhere from 10 minutes to a few hours with most of them completed within 15 to 30 minutes. 

In comparison, the core features of Uphold include:

• A faster signup process even if you do not have any prior brokerage account
• A simple registration process that includes filling up the registration form with your email address, a strong password, and location
• An AutoPilot feature that allows scheduling recurring transactions to buy favorite crypto coins on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis
• Instant transfer feature that is 100% free and allows sending Bitcoin or US dollars to family or friends in seconds by linking another email or account
• Customizable tile desktop feature that allows accessing the menu of assets and selecting the trading option preferred
• Intuitive account purchase and funding option that simplifies trading from a desktop by simply clicking on the tile you want to trade and funding the accounts with the chosen asset or currency with a credit card or bank account which may not be the base currency
• One-step ordering that does not need funding an account in one way and converting it into the present corresponding value of the currency or the asset
• The Uphold MasterCard debit card, which is available to the users in the US only as of now and allows spending anything from cash to Bitcoin and even gold and
• Automatic Currency Conversion feature to use any currency conveniently to send or receive.

All these features of Uphold make it quite easy and fast for the crypto traders to trade their assets on this platform.

6. Product Features

The Uphold platform comes with different product features making it a bit more useful for the users. Apart from a crypto exchange, the products and services offered by this platform include crypto credit cards and crypto staking.

On the other hand, the Coinmama platform is basically used as a crypto exchange more than anything else. In addition to that, the platform offers several other innovative products that are designed specifically to simplify investing and make them more accessible to the users.

One such product is the Universal Gold or UPXAU token that can overcome the conventional drawbacks of investing.

7. Pros and Cons

Knowing the upsides and downsides of these two platforms will also help considerably in making the right choice.

As for Uphold, the advantages that the users can enjoy include that they will get to enjoy both their exchange and wallet service.

In addition to that, they will also have the assurance of trading with a regulated company that also allows the users to use its virtual wallet with MasterCard.

However, the most prominent disadvantage of using the Uphold platform is that trading cannot be made anonymously and the fees are quite expensive.

On the other hand, Coinmama provides the users with several advantages such as an easy accessibility of the platform from almost all countries in the world including most of the parts of the United States.

It is also favored by the crypto traders and investors because it offers the highest buying limit and it also provides quite a good assistance to the users when they face any issues.

And, as for the downsides of this platform, you should be wary of the high fees as well as the scam claims made in the past.

8. Some Other Differences

In addition to the major differences between Coinmama and Uphold as mentioned above, it is good to know some other seemingly unimportant differences between them as well. This will ensure that your comparison is more comprehensive and foolproof.

The head office of Uphold is located in the United States while that of Coinmama is located in Bratislava, Slovakia.

As for the customer support offered by these two crypto platforms, that from Uphold is available through an email ticketing system for general inquiries.

The response is quite fast if these requests are made within their business hours. You can also get in touch with them through social media such as Twitter or through the in-app help section if the FAQs section of the platform does not resolve your purpose.

On the other hand, Coinmama offers online customer support via email as well as a dedicated hotline.

Which is Better – Coinmama or Uphold?

As it is with any other type of crypto exchange platform, it is also a difficult question to answer in the case of Coinmama and Uphold.

This is not only because you will need to consider several different aspects but you will also have to determine whether the specific features and functionalities serve your purpose. It is only then you will be able to arrive at a more informed and educated decision in the end.

Ideally, to make sure that there are no errors in your comparison, you should consider both the major and minor aspects and traits of the two crypto trading platforms and then review things properly and precisely. These aspects include:

• Cost
• Features
• Reviews
• Integrations
• Target market
• Deployment
• Trial offers
• Support options
• Years in Business
• Training options
• Location
• Area of operation
• Tools offered and more.

That is quite a long list that will take a lot of time to compare and arrive at a decision. A much better, feasible, and faster approach is to summarize the different aspects mentioned above, tally them with your preferences and needs, and then make the eventual decision.

Ideally, in a much more concise manner it can be said that it will be good for you to choose Coinmama if:

• You are new to crypto trading
• You stay in Europe or the United Kingdom because the features available are limited elsewhere
• You want simplicity and convenience but do not mind paying high fees for that and
• You want to buy crypto coins using your credit card or debit card.

On the other hand, the Uphold platform is best for those users who are looking for:

• Major and emerging crypto coins to invest in
• An easy-to-use, intuitive, and a fast trading interface
• All-inclusive prices with no hidden fees or spreads
• Fractional purchase of coins with no minimum investment requirement
• Zero accounts and
• No custody or dormancy fees.

Most importantly, the Uphold mobile app is one feature that alone can drive a user towards it. This app is simple in design and intuitive which resembles a desktop platform to make it easy to use.

You can place an order simply and quickly through this app just like a web-based platform, which acts like a two-click exchange.

You will have to click once on the tab ‘Transact’ tab, choose the preferred funding method from crypto, credit cards, or bank accounts, and place the order. The trade is executed in less than 30 seconds.

The mobile app also offers a comprehensive and the latest market data to the minute regarding crypto coins and metals.

It also includes the prices of different crypto coins broken up into five places of decimals which enable the users to make all the necessary calculations most accurately.

The full desktop functionality of this mobile app will allow the users to monitor their crypto portfolio and even send money to anyone from anywhere.

The Uphold mobile app is free to download and is compatible with both iOS and Android devices. The most unique aspect of this mobile app is its ‘From and to’ interface.

This unique feature will allow you to draw money from your bank account or credit card and use it to buy the asset of your choice directly.

You will find using this mobile app quite interesting and joyful due to the proximity offered for trading and funding from one screen.

Conclusion

Considering the various aspects while choosing a reliable and productive crypto exchange may not be easy for you. This is where articles like this come to the rescue with all the differences enumerated and explained in detail for you.