Today, at the North American Bitcoin Conference, I announced the next phase of Abra’s global expansion: Next month, we’ll be enabling Abra worldwide, activating a global network of Tellers who can transact in over 50 currencies, including directly in Bitcoin. This means that anyone with a smartphone in any country can send or receive funds in most major currencies and can cash in or out of their Abra wallet, even without a bank account. Bitcoin is key to these efforts. While Bitcoin has always been a large part of what we do, it’s been hidden in the background up until now. Last year we launched Abra in the Philippines and the US, and validated that we could release a digital currency product using Bitcoin that didn’t confuse the average consumer. Yes, my 70+ year old mother can use Abra with no help from me. Cool. Now we’re adding direct Bitcoin support (for depositing and withdrawing) in the Abra App while maintaining the super-user-friendly experience from stage one. Once we launch, any Abra user can use Bitcoin via any third party Bitcoin Wallet to add and remove funds from their Abra App regardless of which currency they’re holding in their Abra Wallet. (As a reminder Abra is a non-custodial digital currency wallet. Abra has no access to the user’s private key, even in the instance where the consumer chooses to hold US Dollars.) We’ll also be launching a network of Abra Tellers – what some people call our Human ATMs – to enable people around the world to use Abra. So at global launch, we’ll support the following scenarios: One of the things I’m most excited about is our support for the global Bitcoin trading community. We estimate that $30-$40 million per week is now traded in person in “fiat vs Bitcoin” in over 75 countries. With our support for Bitcoin Traders as Abra Tellers, Bitcoin Traders can now hold Bitcoin in their Abra App but process deposits and withdrawals in any world currency that the Abra App supports. A consumer holding US Dollars meets a Teller, and processes a withdrawal to receive Argentinian Pesos. Neither party even knows that a dual currency trade transaction took place! Wow. This is a huge step forward in realizing our vision of anyone being able to send money easily to anyone else in the world, instantly, privately, and securely. We’ll be rolling our Teller program out globally, starting next month. Tellers can make money while helping their community send and receive money. If you’re interested in becoming an Abra Teller, we encourage you to apply right away! Please make sure you have the latest app version downloaded, and submit your details right from within the app. Our onboarding team will contact you as we review applications. We’re excited for this next stage in our development, and look forward to getting your feedback as we progress! [For additional images, please see the Downloads section of our Press page.] Bill is the founder and CEO of Abra.
Mobile wallet service Abra will launch worldwide next month. The firm's product permits anyone with a smartphone to send or receive funds from their mobile wallet in more than 50 currencies, including bitcoin. The company claims its user interface won't confuse the average consumer. "Yes, my 70+ year old mother can use Abra with no help from me", said CEO Bill Barhydt in a post on the company's blog. Bitcoin is an open source distributed ledger technology that allows users and businesses to transfer money directly between each other without relying on banks or financial institutions.