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 future of finance — and we believe that building on Bitcoin is
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
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,
In the latest Crypto Bite episode, Abra founder and CEO Bill Barhydt sat down with Zooko Wilcox, the creator and CEO of Zcash. Their conversation covers a lot of ground — both have been working on encryption and secure internet technologies since well before the launch of Bitcoin. One main focus of the conversation is how privacy relates to everyday internet users and to the function and future of cryptocurrencies. “There’s been a shift,” Wilcox said. “That whole notion that nobody cares about privacy is
While 2018 was defined by crazy crypto market movements, it was also a year of tremendous growth and innovation across the entire industry. Here at Abra, it was an amazing year of progress and prosperity! At the beginning of the year, we launched a decentralized investing platform enabling investors to buy and hold 20 cryptocurrencies using a novel synthetic currency model. Over the rest of the year, the number of cryptocurrencies available in an Abra wallet continued to grow, with the total number now at 30
