Uphold
Uphold is a crypto debit card (visa/mastercard, US/UK) issued on Mastercard, rated 6.8/10 in our latest review. Below: what it costs and what it demands, the tiers the issuer publishes, and how the card cleared our live checkouts.
Uphold is the strongest fit for ad spend and app store / play, and asks for ID + proof at signup — we carry it at low-medium (FinCEN MSB + FCA; issuer cross river bank FDIC) risk. Treat the fee rows as the deciding factor: a card that clears reliably but charges on every top-up costs more than its rating suggests.
Profile
| Issuer / category | Uphold · Crypto debit card (Visa/Mastercard, US/UK) |
| Official site | https://uphold.com |
| Best for | Ad spend · App Store / Play |
| Network | Mastercard |
| Rating | 6.8/10 (3.5★, 330 data points) |
| Data quality | verified |
Costs and fees
| Card creation fee | Free (virtual); $4.99 (physical, US) |
| Monthly / annual fee | $0 (Essential); $99.99/yr (Elite) |
| Minimum deposit | No minimum |
| FX / conversion fee | 1.5% FX markup (Essential); 0% (Elite) |
Verification and risk
| KYC required | Yes (standard ID + selfie) |
| Risk level | Low-Medium (FinCEN MSB + FCA; issuer Cross River Bank FDIC) |
| AVS check | Yes |
| 3-D Secure | Yes (Visa/Mastercard 3DS) |
Funding and limits
| Crypto top-up | Yes (200+ assets: USD, USDC, USDT, BTC, XRP, metals) |
| Bank transfer | Yes (bank transfer, USD) |
| Alipay / WeChat Pay | No |
Billing
| Billing address | Residential |
| Billing country | United States (excl NY/LA), United Kingdom |
Platform compatibility
| ChatGPT | No |
| Claude | No |
| Midjourney | No |
| Netflix / Spotify | No |
| App Store / Google Play | Yes (Apple Pay/Google Pay) |
| Meta / Google Ads | Yes (general online spend) |
How it performed in our tests
| BIN range | Network | Issuing country | Type | Charges | Cleared | Clear rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 550185 | Mastercard | United States | Debit | 261 | 188 | 72.0% |
We logged 188 cleared charges out of 261 attempts on 1 documented range for this brand. Counts include renewals, not just first charges.
Where to go next
Checkout guides built around this card
Category guides
Issuing country
Other Mastercard virtual cards
Frequently asked
What does Uphold cost to run?
The cost lines stack like this: issuing the card is free; the recurring charge is $0 (Essential); $99.99/yr (Elite); conversion is priced at 1.5% FX markup (Essential); 0% (Elite); you need No minimum to get going. Cash-out costs are what compound here, so weigh the recurring lines above the one-off fee.
Do I need to verify my identity for Uphold?
Uphold asks for ID + proof at signup. The check runs once when the account opens, not on each charge, and the issuer's own wording is: Yes (standard ID + selfie)
How can I fund Uphold?
You can fund it with crypto (200+ assets: USD, USDC, USDT, BTC, XRP, metals), bank transfer (bank transfer, USD). Pick the one you can top up cheaply and repeatedly, because the load fee is charged every time.
Which billing address does Uphold need?
Setting it up: the billing address type is Residential; cards are issued against United States (excl NY/LA), United Kingdom; an AVS check is applied. Copy the address the issuer generates rather than retyping it. A transposed digit is the most common reason a working range starts failing.
Does Uphold work for subscriptions and AI tools?
We recorded successful charges for the App Store and Google Play, Meta and Google Ads. Where a card passes on one merchant and fails on another, the difference is usually the processor and the 3-D Secure setting rather than the card itself.
Will Uphold trigger 3-D Secure?
Yes. Uphold supports 3-D Secure, so expect a step-up prompt on larger or first-time charges. An OTP you can complete is fine; a challenge that never arrives is what kills the order, so keep the issuer app open at checkout.
How VCCFinder tests
VCCFinder buys cards at retail and charges them on live checkouts, then publishes the clear rate and decline reasons next to each range. Where a card declined, the reason sits on its BIN page rather than in a footnote here.