On June 25, Uphold announced that they will allow users in Latin America to use cryptocurrency to acquire fractional ownership of the world’s leading companies.
Uphold supports dozens of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC). In theory, its users could acquire a stake in Amazon, Apple, Google or Tesla for as little as 10,000 Satoshis.
Making U.S. equities affordable to LATAM
According to the company’s press release, the new service makes equity investments affordable for millions of people in the region:
“Uphold, the leading digital money platform, today launches a groundbreaking equities service that gives millions of people in Latin America easy and affordable access to U.S. stocks for the first time.”
Wealth preservation
The company believes that for many countries in Latin America, inflation debases the little savings that the locals make. Uphold CEO J.P. Thieriot said that if locals had access to this kind of service back in 2010, they would have been able to preserve their wealth much better:
“If you’d put $1,000 in Uphold’s basket of 50 U.S. stocks in June 2010, today your investment would be worth around $5,785 compared with just $337 if you’d left your money in Brazilian Reals; $50 in Argentinian Pesos; or shockingly less than a penny in Venezuelan Bolivars.”
The press release states that there are no trading fees and the minimum investment is $1.
