Bitcoin remittance app Abra receives $12 million in Series A funding

     Bitcoin remittance app Abra received $12 million in Series A funding. Abra is a mobile application that combines "Bitcoin blockchain + human ATM".

     It is reported that Abra made its debut at the Launch Festival, a famous Silicon Valley technology startup conference in 2015. It uses Bitcoin as its backend infrastructure, but the fixed-value settlement funds are in US dollars . Its founder is Bill Brahydt, an entrepreneur and former Netscape executive.

     The application uses a combination of "Bitcoin blockchain + human ATM" technology, hoping to bypass middlemen and enter the multi-billion dollar P2P remittance market. The application will soon be open to the general public, and global users will be able to remit more efficiently, with lower transaction fees and support for all currencies . The company hopes that Abra can turn all smartphones into an ATM, which means that Abra is not just a Bitcoin application, but a comprehensive digital asset management system.

     As its founder Bill Brahydt said: "We hope that Abra can turn all smartphones into an ATM that can withdraw money. It is not just a Bitcoin application. The wallet will be a comprehensive digital asset management system. You don't have to understand it. The principle behind it is very complicated."

     In addition, Jim Robinson, general partner at RRE Ventures and co-founder of Abra, also said that the company is leveraging the potential of Bitcoin technology to reduce friction in financial services. As Brahydt said, Abra aims to target the $550 billion global remittance market by reducing the associated remittance fees.

The profit model of the service is mainly through charging fees: "The ATM will charge a certain fee, and we will charge half of the fee on each side. If the ATM does not charge a fee, then we will not charge any fee. The APP will collect the fee and push it to Abra, which will tell users the relevant payment information, and they do not need to calculate it."

     According to the plan, Abra plans to use the funds to further develop its remittance application and support the expansion of its service coverage. It is reported that the company is currently recruiting a group of "human ATMs" and training them to serve people around the world. The company will launch this remittance service soon. And it claims that the recruited "human ATMs" have covered more than 80 countries.

     Of course, I am looking forward to the day when the Bitcoin remittance application Abra becomes popular in major countries around the world.