When I started Abra, my vision was to create a single smartphone app that could eventually offer any financial service to any person in the world.

Today, Abra is making a big step towards realizing this vision.

Get early access to stock and ETF investing.

We’re announcing that we are enabling everyone, everywhere in the world the opportunity to invest in traditional stocks, commodities and ETFs, all from the Abra app. We’re going to start with popular US stocks and ETFs and add more global assets in the coming months. Of course, all of the great features for investing in cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies remain fully integrated as well.



This means that our users in 155 countries will be able to invest in popular US stocks and commodities like gold and even use bitcoin to make stock investments.



And yes, in case you’re wondering it’s bitcoin itself that is making all of this possible, but more on that later. First, why are we doing this?



Challenges with traditional investing



Many consumers in the US and other countries already have access to stocks and mutual funds via online brokerages. However, many people (billions actually) are shut out of these investment opportunities due to their geography, financial status or lack of accredited investor status, income level, or lack of trust for their local financial institutions.



That’s why Abra is leveling the playing field for everyone.



At Abra, we already have low-income families in the Philippines and rich venture capitalists in the US using our app to invest in cryptocurrencies. Now we’re giving our customers access to the same investment products that everyone in the US has enjoyed for decades.



We’ve also heard from many of our users that they would love to have one stop shopping from the Abra app for all of their investment needs. This new product release makes this wish a reality.



Having a single app for stocks, cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies and even ETFs is really compelling and something I know I will be using for the rest of my life.



We believe the future of finance is decentralized, and we hope you’ll join us in making that ideal a reality.

Available in 155 countries



Right now, Abra is available in 155 countries. That list will keep growing as more people realize the inevitability of decentralized finance and the utility of bitcoin as the means to get us there. It shouldn’t matter where you live or how much you earn to be able to participate in the world’s best investment opportunities.



Besides global access, we also believe that financial products should be simple to use and easy to understand. To meet those goals of easy access, we are continually improving the Abra app experience, and giving users the information (like price charts and asset summaries) to make informed investment decisions.



No fee and $5 minimum



Just like you can own a tiny fraction of a bitcoin, you can now own tiny fractions of high-priced stocks, commodities, and indexes. This opens up everyone’s investing potential. Now, even small dollar amounts can quickly and easily be invested in the stock market, or into a gold ETF, or (still) into crypto.



We are also really excited to extend the idea of affordability beyond fractional asset buying and offer zero trading fees on Abra’s new equities offerings through 2019 for everyone that signs up for early access.



Abra is powerfully simple



All people need to do to get started with Abra is to download the app, fund the wallet by using a bank account or by using crypto, and soon with a couple of taps, they can start buying and selling exposure to stocks, ETFs, indexes, gold, crypto, fiat currencies — and more investment instruments on the way.



Try the app by depositing $20 and buy some crypto, and soon buy an S&P 500 ETF, buy your favorite tech stock and even buy some gold. Use Abra’s charts to learn price movements. It’s just so easy.



We are proud of the high rankings that the Abra app gets from users, and we are always looking for feedback and opportunities to make improvements.



Abra’s is as private as it gets



Abra is built from the ground up with privacy in mind. Technically, there are no user accounts at Abra. You are simply holding the keys to your assets in the Abra App on your phone.



Abra does not collect, store, or have access to our users’ funds. Instead, they are accounted for on the Bitcoin blockchain. We believe this model is not only best for the user, but it’s also best for Abra as it allows us to refocus our energy on adding great and powerful features.



If you deposit bitcoin into the Abra app to make your investment we don’t even need to collect any personal details.



We believe that managing money and making investments should be more straightforward and less expensive. These new decentralized models will open up new kinds of financial opportunity and innovation, and we are excited to be part of the movement.



How are we able to do this?



The Abra app already offers 80 different assets for investing — 50 fiat currencies and 30 crypto currencies. We have extended the same crypto collateralized contract model that we use for these assets to work with traditional assets such as stocks and commodities. This is a huge breakthrough and a first of its kind application for cryptocurrencies.



We believe this technology is one of the best applications of crypto and could be the ultimate on-ramp to get a billion people into crypto without them even knowing that they’re using it!



So what are these crypto collateralized contracts?



Crypto-collateralized contracts (C3) allow an investor to easily gain investment exposure to any asset, such as a stock, bond, another cryptocurrency, etc., by simply using bitcoin as the underlying technology for the investment. In other words, if you want to invest $1,000 in Apple shares you will place $1,000 worth of bitcoin into a contract. As the price of Apple goes up or down versus the dollar, bitcoin will be added to or subtracted from your contract. When you settle the contract — or sell the Apple investment — the value of the Apple shares will be reflected in bitcoin in your wallet which can easily be converted back to dollars, or any other asset for that matter.



When you enter into a C3 , you’re effectively creating a smart contract which automatically determines — based on the price of the Apple shares — whether you have made money or lost money. The underlying bitcoin collateral then adjusts itself accordingly to be equal to the value of the Apple shares.



That begs the question, “If the value of the underlying bitcoin collateral adjusts itself who is taking the risk on these contracts when the price of Apple goes up?” Simply put, Abra is taking that risk. However, Abra hedges away our risk on these contracts in the open market at the moment the consumer creates the investment. Abra has already successfully processed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of these investment contracts and has never lost money on them.



Crypto-collateralized contracts leverage the programmable aspects of bitcoin to create a new universe of secure and decentralized finance.



Welcome to the future



We hope that you will join our pre-launch list to be the first to know when Abra’s new stock investing functionality is available. By doing so, you’ll secure our special sign up offer of zero trading fees on all equity products for the rest of 2019.



And please stay tuned! We have some more ambitious plans for the rest of the year!



Sign up for early access to Abra’s new equities offerings.