| Abra | |
| Type: | Private |
| Foundation: | 2014 |
| Founder: | Bill Barhydt (CEO) |
| Location City: | Mountain View, CA |
| Location Country: | U.S. |
| Area Served: | World |
| Industry: | Financial services |
| Services: | Cryptocurrency wallet, exchange, yield and lending |
| Homepage: | abra.com |
Abra is a financial services and technology company that operates a cryptocurrency wallet service including a trading service for buying and selling cryptocurrencies, a service for earning interest on cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, and a lending services for borrowing against cryptocurrency collateral.[1]
Abra was founded in 2014 in the Silicon Valley by Bill Barhydt, a former fixed income analyst for Goldman Sachs and former director of Netscape.[2] [3]
Abra operates a cryptocurrency wallet with a built-in crypto swap service called Abra Trade, a crypto lending service called Abra Borrow, and a crypto staking service called Abra Earn.
In March 2018, Abra added support for 20 new cryptocurrencies including Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Stellar.[4]
In September 2021 Abra announced that it had raised an additional $55M in Series C funding bringing its total raised to date to over $85M. Investors in the financing included American Express Ventures, Blockchain Capital, Kingsway Capital and CMT Digital Ventures.[5]
Abra and Barhydt started the YouTube series Money Talks. Interviews have included Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, MicroStrategy CEO and Bitcoin supporter Michael Saylor, Bitcoin Cash supporter Roger Ver, Zcash creator Zooko Wilcox, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley, and venture capitalists Tim and Adam Draper.
In June 2018, Abra was listed in The Wall Street Journal as one of the "Top 25 Tech Companies to Watch in 2018".[6]
In 2021 Forbes named Abra one of its next Billion-Dollar Startups.[7]
The Texas State Securities Board alleged that Abra (otherwise known as Plutus Financial), Abra Boost, Plutus Lending and Abra founder William Barhydt misled the public, committed securities fraud and the company has been nearly insolvent since at least March 31, 2023 and was thus served with an Emergency Cease and Desist Order.[8]
Previous Cease and Desist order ENF-23-CDO-1873 replaced by Consent Order ORDER NO. ENF-24-CDO-1881 April 16, 2024 including:
It is further ORDERED that the fine assessed herein will be suspended and extinguished, so long as Abra has complied with the process for returning assets as identified in paragraph 31 above. If it is determined that Abra has failed to comply with paragraph 31 above, or if one or more Respondents file for bankruptcy in the United States or abroad (or the equivalent abroad), or are the subject(s) of a successful involuntary bankruptcy proceeding in the United States or abroad (or the equivalent abroad) prior to complying with paragraph 31 above, the fine shall become immediately due and owing...