Abra, the bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment founded in 2014 by Bill Barhydt, a veteran in the cryptocurrency space is now the first and only all-in-one app allowing users to buy, sell and hold across 20 cryptocurrencies and 50 fiat currencies. Users can exchange across any currency with no deposit or exchange transaction fees, at any time with no limitations.
The new version of the Abra app for iOS and Android is available today to all users globally with an initial 13 cryptocurrencies, which include: Bitcoin [BTC], Bitcoin Cash [BCH], Dash [DASH], Dogecoin [DOGE], Ethereum [ETH], Ethereum Classic [ETC], Golem [GNT], Litecoin [LTC], OmiseGO [OMG], Qtum [QTUM], Ripple [XRP], Vertcoin [VTC] and Zcash [ZEC]. The additional 7 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin Gold [BTG], Stellar Lumens [XLM], DigiByte [DGB], Augur [REP], Status [SNT], Stratis [STRAT] and 0x [ZRX] will be available to all Abra users in the coming days.
“With the exponential growth of cryptocurrencies and their increasing importance in today’s culture, the Abra app offers a timely mobile experience that provides more access and exposure to these new digital currencies in an easy, quick and safe way,” said Bill Barhydt, founder, and CEO of Abra. “Our goal is to empower customers around the world, using their local currencies to freely invest in a wide variety of cryptocurrencies at any time, from anywhere without the restrictions of banks and fees. For the first time in the world, users can transact in and out of fiat or cryptos almost instantly.”
“By bringing 20 cryptocurrencies onto one platform, Abra has repaired a fractured system that has frustrated users who want to expand their crypto portfolios,” said Vinny Lingham, co-founder and CEO of Civic and General Partner at Multicoin. “Abra has unified the processes and transactions onto one app, creating a seamless user experience that the crypto community has long been asking for.”
“I’m excited to see Abra has chosen to use the Litecoin network in the newest iteration of its app,” said Charlie Lee, Founder of Litecoin. “Litecoin’s unique combination of low fees, high throughput, and secure immutable transactions is a great fit for its use as programmable money.”
How Abra works: Consumers can add money to their wallets using a bank account, an American Express credit card in the United States or using bitcoin purchased outside Abra from anywhere in the world. They can then invest in any of the 20 cryptocurrencies offered on the Abra app, quickly, easily and safely. To develop the new wallet and integrated exchange, Abra built a platform using price-stabilized crypto tokens, called stable coins, that facilitates holding both fiat coins as well as cryptocurrencies through a combination of litecoin and bitcoin-based smart contracts. This unique multi-sig smart contract based investment platform uses P2SH scripts on the litecoin and bitcoin blockchains that simulate investment contracts the way a gold ETF is a contract based on USD. Abra acts as the counterparty (i.e. the other signatory) to the P2SH scripts, enabling the company to now run a market-making operation that hedges away its counter-party risk on these scripts.
“With the launch of 20 cryptocurrencies in its app, including Dash, Abra is bringing innovation and simplicity to cryptocurrency investing,” said Ryan Taylor, CEO of the Dash core team. “Consumers can now instantly invest in a wide variety of cryptos while managing their investments in one place. Abra is the first company to enable such a diverse range of cryptocurrencies in one wallet, and I’m excited to see Dash as one of the supported cryptocurrencies at launch.”
“I am delighted that Abra chose to include Zcash as one of the many cryptocurrencies it now supports,” said Zooko Wilcox, CEO of the Zcash Company, “By buying or selling Zcash, you make it easier for other people around the world to use it, such as for sending remittances to their families back home. Abra makes it easy to own a diverse range of cryptocurrencies in one wallet, and I’m happy to see them offer this to users.”
“Abra has developed an easy-to-use app for managing investments in cryptocurrencies,” said Dan Boneh, Professor of Computer Science and head of the Applied Cryptography Group at Stanford University. “Their use of multi-sig technology in bitcoin and litecoin to create investment contracts is quite powerful. That they have done it in a super user-friendly way is commendable.”
Through the use of its stable coin platform, Abra can quickly add additional cryptocurrencies to the app once they pass the platform’s rigid analysis around liquidity, contract market making, and other factors. Additionally, consumers in any country can now invest in any asset class regardless of where the asset originated. This model can be extended to stocks, bonds, commodities and more with no changes to the existing Abra app. Finally, Abra can be used to send money in addition to investing, allowing Abra to become a crypto bank.
