Seven flaws in the financial system

Daniel McGlynn - Thursday, February 14th, 2019

No doubt, the challenges facing the global financial system are real. If you lived through 2008, you know this. Or, today, if you live in emerging economies that still lack access to affordable and efficient financial services you know this. But the systemic problems of global finance are often so complex that they often get lumped into one massive category, which is not always helpful for understanding. Since we are set on building the future of finance — and we believe that building on Bitcoin

Read more

Abra’s next chapter

Bill Barhydt - Wednesday, February 6th, 2019

stock and ETF investing on Abra

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,

Read more

Building a crypto investing platform in 2019

Abra - Friday, January 18th, 2019

In a quick Crypto Bite episode, Abra founder and CEO Bill Barhydt talks about building a crypto investment portfolio in 2019: “As we start the new year, we all like to create our own resolutions. And one of the things that people think about, of course, are personal finances — how should I manage my personal finances, and what should I invest in? “I think that looking at the cryptocurrency opportunity as part of an overall, balanced, personal investment strategy is something that everyone should

Read more

Code meets money: An illustrated guide to Bitcoin

Daniel McGlynn - Wednesday, January 9th, 2019

code meets money

As a way to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Bitcoin network launch, we teamed up with Unbankd to create “Code meets money,” an explainer developed in the style of a graphic novel. A decade ago, the Bitcoin network was in its first days of life. Today it is the world’s first massively-adopted, open cryptocurrency network and the future of finance. Over the past 10 years, Bitcoin has gone from an idea proposed on cypherpunk forum and supported initially by a handful of people, to

Read more

Bitcoin and bolivars

Daniel McGlynn - Monday, January 7th, 2019

Maracay, Venezuela

We recently caught up with researcher Alejandro Machado, who spent part of 2018 investigating how people are using cryptocurrencies in Venezuela. The country is in the throes of a prolonged hyperinflation spiral, which basically means the government-backed Venezuelan bolivars are becoming worthless. In fact, the bolivar is now among the most worthless fiat currencies on the planet. “Prices in Venezuela double every 18 days,” says Machado, a researcher with a background in computer programming and human-computer interaction. “So if you are planning for the future,

Read more