Uphold Expands to China and Hong Kong with UnionPay Integration

Cloud money services platform Uphold has announced its expansion to China and Hong Kong with support for UnionPay cards.

The startup, founded by Halsey Minor, has traditionally provided bitcoin storage and Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term to users, allowing them to hedge against bitcoin’s Volatility Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders Read this Term by pegging their holdings to fiat currency or precious metals.

In October, it changed its name from Bitreserve to Uphold and revamped its branding and website. Its marketing focus has shifted to low-cost fiat currency exchange and global transfers, and it is branded as a FinTech company. It says to have facilitated over $700 million worth of cloud money transactions to date.

Bitcoin is now a secondary focus at best, though the platform is also marketed as the only way to buy and store bitcoin without any fees.

In its announcement, Uphold CEO Anthony Watson said that Uphold is the "first U.S. based financial services company to successfully provide and operate services in Greater China and Hong Kong since the country opened its $7 trillion bank card market to foreign players on June 1, 2015."

Recently, Apple Pay made its entry into China, also through UnionPay.

As part of the October shift, credit and debit funding options were first introduced on Uphold.

The fee for UnionPay transactions is 3.8%. To be eligible, UnionPay members must submit their ID. Also noted is that the onboard of any funds to the platform is in full compliance with Chinese state capital controls and requirements.

While Uphold has been increasingly shifting focus to fiat currency, it also recently announced its support for "Voxel", a token launched by a virtual reality content platform called Voxelus.