India's Tata Bank and American Express enter the Bitcoin world, strategically investing in Abra to challenge the $550 billion remittance market

Indian business tycoon Ratan Tata and American Express announced yesterday that they have made a strategic investment in Abra, a US virtual currency startup. This is part of Abra's $12 million Series A financing, led by Arbor Ventures, RRE Ventures and First Round Capital. Although Ratan Tata is one of the most active angel investors in India, this is his first entry into the world of Bitcoin.

Abra uses Bitcoin to operate their money transfer system and claims to be the world's first P2P network for transferring digital currency. Users can transfer funds to any user account in the world using Abra. When users want to withdraw cash, they need to coordinate with Abra's certified "human ATM teller" to withdraw some local currency, but a small fee will be charged.

Merchants can use Abra to accept payments from customers by plugging its API into their website or mobile app. Founder Bill Barhydt explains that the app can solve the huge processing fee problem facing the $550 billion remittance market.

Abra will initially open registration to users in the United States and the Philippines.

Bitcoin is treated differently across Asia

In the Philippines, Bitcoin is very popular among users due to its high efficiency and low transaction fees.

But in India, the government has issued several regulations warning users of the lack of security. Earlier last year, the Indian government raided the country's largest bitcoin exchange, Buysellbitco.in, saying it was operating without a license. It then said that the operation of a bitcoin exchange would never be approved by the Indian government.

India's neighbor China's relationship with Bitcoin has also taken a sharp turn for the worse. In 2013, China was the country with the most Bitcoin wallet downloads, but then the Chinese government stipulated that Bitcoin could not be used as a currency in the country. Taobao also subsequently banned Bitcoin transactions on their platform and even punished merchants who sold Bitcoin mining machines and Bitcoin mining guides.