In a recent post on our company blog, we announced that bitcoin is a now a first-class currency in the Abra wallet. Users can now send, receive, buy, sell, and hodl bitcoin as a currency right in the app. This is one of the biggest updates we’ve ever announced, and we’re excited to see how people will start using this new feature. To help you get started, we created this guide to help our customers have the smoothest experience with buying bitcoin in the app.
Two ways to buy
Today, the Abra wallet supports two ways to buy bitcoin from within the app: bank account transfers and cash. Both of these methods for buying bitcoin can be found under the “add money” section of the app. Bank account transfers available in the U.S. and the Philippines today, and cash transactions are available anywhere there are active Abra Tellers. In this guide, we’ll cover how to buy bitcoin with your bank account. Cash purchases will be covered in a separate guide.
Bank account transfers
As mentioned above, bank account transfers are available only in the U.S. and the Philippines at the time of this writing, and only from select banks in these countries. For the most up-to-date status in your country, check the Where is Abra available? page on our website.
Step 1. Set your wallet currency
If you want to buy bitcoin at a predictable rate, you must first make sure that your wallet currency is the same as the currency you’ll be depositing from your bank. For example, in the U.S. this would be USD, and in the Philippines this would be PHP. Your wallet currency defaults to your local fiat currency based on the phone number you used to sign up, but in case you have changed it, you can change it back by going into the main menu and selecting your local fiat currency from the list of currencies on the “Wallet currency” page.
After you’ve double-checked to make sure that your wallet currency is the same as the currency you’ll be depositing from your bank, you can begin the process of adding money to your wallet from your bank account.
Note: if your wallet currency is BTC then your deposit will be converted from your bank’s local fiat currency into BTC using the exchange rate at the time that the bank deposit clears, 2-3 business days after you initiate your deposit. Changing your wallet currency to be the same as your bank’s local fiat currency will ensure that you can convert into BTC at a predictable rate.
Step 2. Add money from your bank account
From the home page of your Abra wallet, press the “add money” button. This will take you to the screen with the different options for funding your wallet.
Press the “Use bank account” button then press “Add bank account” and find your bank in the list of supported banks (note that the sequence of steps is different for the Philippines, so please follow the instructions within the app). The process for adding a bank account varies based on the bank. Once you have completed this process, you will be able to initiate a deposit. Within 2-3 business days of initiating a deposit, you will receive a response indicating whether your deposit was successful or not.
Once the you have successfully completed your deposit, your money will show up as an available balance on the home screen of your Abra wallet. (If you have a pending deposit that is waiting to be confirmed, you will see an “available balance” below the total balance.)
Step 3. Convert your balance into bitcoin
Now that you have money in your Abra wallet, you can turn your balance into bitcoin. To do this, you have two options:
- Change your wallet currency to BTC, or
- Send to an external bitcoin address.
To choose option (1) above – change your wallet currency into BTC – go into the main menu, press the “wallet currency” button, and select BTC from the list of available currencies. The wallet will show you the rate that your balance will be converted at, and you can choose to accept or decline this rate.
If you choose to accept, press “OK”, then your wallet balance will be converted into BTC. No money will be available to convert or send until after the conversion transaction is confirmed by the bitcoin network.
After your conversion transaction is confirmed, your bitcoin will become available to convert or send to another Abra user or bitcoin address. Success! You have just completed a purchase of BTC with your Abra wallet.
To choose option (2) above – send to an external bitcoin address – you will have to wait until your bank deposit has been confirmed by the bitcoin network before you can initiate a withdrawal. Once your deposit transaction is confirmed, press the “Withdraw” button on the home screen of your Abra wallet then press the “Use bitcoin” button.
Scan the QR code or copy/paste the bitcoin address you want to withdraw your balance to, and enter the amount as denominated in your wallet currency. The available amount to withdraw is shown at the bottom of the screen; you can withdraw up to this amount. Double-check the address and amount – the transaction cannot be undone, so you want to make sure these are correct – then press “Next” in the top corner to confirm the withdrawal.
You will then see the send amount deducted from the balance on the home screen of your Abra wallet. Within a few seconds, the bitcoin will arrive in your withdrawal address. Success! You have just completed a purchase of BTC with your Abra wallet.
over spot of which price index?
We are currently using Coinbase for our price feed.
then it would be a nice touch also to see the live bitcoin price ticker from Coinbase inside the app. Showing the rate in BTC to U.S. dollars as in your illustration isn’t fully informative for those who are used to follow BTC price in dollars or other base currencies like e.g. euro, yen or GBP.
this would make sense when using it as a bitcoin wallet, and reference coinbase when converting to/from bitcoin.
Good feedback, thanks! As you pointed out, we currently just show the rate when a user goes to make the conversion. This could be made visible elsewhere in the app. I will pass this feedback along to the product team.
glad you guys figured out a way to buy at predictable rate.
Is the bitcoin on withdrawal via option 2 bring purchased via local bitcoins vendors in the background? Surprised they’re on board with 1% fees, guess you’re expecting volume
No, the bitcoin is actually in your wallet, hedged to the price of e.g. USD at the time the deposit is made. Option two just transfers the bitcoin to an external wallet at the current exchange rate.
Suppose my wallet currency is set to CNY (Chineese yuan) and I want to buy bitcoin. I choose the option of converting my yuan denominated balance to bitcoin inside the app. But there’s no CNY/BTC pair on Coinbase. So how do we get the rate?
CNY -> USD -> BTC
Hello, My question is perhaps one of a bit of ignorance to how this all works, but in buying bitcoins from my bank account at a certain price as stated above (spot based on coinbase) if this if left in my Abra BTC wallet does the price then flux up and down as it does on coinbase?
If I am buying more as an investment, longer term hold will what I purchase increase in value if BTC increases?
Is there a limit of how much that can be purchased like coinbase does?
Can the BTC wallet at some future date be converted back into USA to then be put back into my bank account that is connected to my Abra?
Thank you, Dayna
> Hello, My question is perhaps one of a bit of ignorance to how this all works, but in buying bitcoins from my bank account at a certain price as stated above (spot based on coinbase) if this if left in my Abra BTC wallet does the price then flux up and down as it does on coinbase?
If your wallet currency is set to BTC, then the value of your wallet will be fixed in BTC. If your wallet currency is set to USD, then the value of your wallet will be fixed in USD.
> If I am buying more as an investment, longer term hold will what I purchase increase in value if BTC increases?
Only if your wallet currency is set to BTC. You can do this from the main menu in the app.
> Is there a limit of how much that can be purchased like coinbase does?
$500/ day.
Edit: You can check out our current limits here: https://abra.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002918627-What-are-Abra-s-transaction-limits-new-
> Can the BTC wallet at some future date be converted back into USA to then be put back into my bank account that is connected to my Abra?
Yes, you can convert your wallet currency at any time between any of the 50+ currencies we support in the app, and you can withdraw your funds to your account at any of the banks we support in the US and Philippines.
Hi John, I have another question. Can I request or send payment from for example, a coinbase account to my Abra account or does this only work amoung Abra users and supporters.
Dayna
Yes, you can send money to and from your Abra wallet with your Coinbase account. In the Abra wallet, on the “Add money” page, press the button for “Use bitcoin” and you can send money from your Coinbase account to the bitcoin address in your Abra wallet. And you can do the same in reverse: on the “Withdraw money” page, press the button for “Use bitcoin” and copy/paste the bitcoin address for your Coinbase wallet to send money from your Abra wallet to Coinbase. You can use these same features to add and withdraw money using any external bitcoin wallet, not just Coinbase. Hope this helps!
John,
I was just restricted to a $250 daily limit. When did this change?
Hi Robert, this change went live on Monday. You can find info about our current limits on our FAQ: https://abra.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002918627-What-are-Abra-s-transaction-limits-new-
If I fund my wallet with US $, then change the currency to BTC, will everything in the wallet change? what if I want to add more funds? Say I add another $500 to the account but my currency is now set to BTC? Will I automatically be buying BTC already? Can it be a separate wallet containing some BTC which I bought before and some USD which I just replenished my account with?
If you change your wallet currency to BTC then everything is converted and any money added to the wallet will be automatically converted into BTC as well. You can only hold one currency in your wallet at a time.
would be appreciated if you share some details about verification because I was instantly hit it when i tried adding funds. (pretty low amount I must add, so in the end I did not bother with it and just bought elsewhere)
Hi David, we explain the process here on our FAQ:
US: https://abra.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003321467-How-do-I-deposit-into-my-wallet-using-a-bank-US-new-
PH: https://abra.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000821548-How-do-I-deposit-into-my-wallet-using-a-bank-Philippines-new-
This did not answer his question. I read this. What are the verification processing?
Everyone knows legally you must have these but essential to be transparent about them.
What question do you have that the FAQ articles did not answer?
If I do not wish to convert to BTC at the time I receive funds in my wallet, can I send the USD to a USDT account on Poloniex for example?
Will you support ETH in the future?
If I pay someone in another currency and their bank is not yet on your list, nor is there a teller near them, how do they retrieve the funds?
> If I do not wish to convert to BTC at the time I receive funds in my wallet, can I send the USD to a USDT account on Poloniex for example?
You could, you can also choose to convert your wallet currency from USD to BTC to convert your whole wallet balance, or withdraw your USD to any external bitcoin address (including one at an exchange like Poloniex). This choice is up to you.
> Will you support ETH in the future?
No plans to.
> If I pay someone in another currency and their bank is not yet on your list, nor is there a teller near them, how do they retrieve the funds?
They can with their balance to an external bitcoin wallet, including one hosted on an exchange that will connect to their bank account.
Hi,
When can I add a Swiss bank account into my wallet? Knowing that my teller application is being process.
I only see US and Philippine banks available.
Hi JB, we do not support Swiss banks at this time but are working on expanding our banking integrations – stay tuned! In the mean time, you can fund your Abra wallet with bitcoin. Just select the “Use bitcoin” option on the “Add money” screen. Let us know if you have any other questions about this.
Hi John, I assume you make a % on fund xfrs (to another person’s account) that would be less than traditional currency exchanges. What is to stop someone in the US, for ex, giving their friend in Philippines their password? So the Philippines person just makes a withdrawal seemingly from their own account into whatever currency rather than a fund xfr to another person’s account that would entail fees. Of course, not advocating, just seems like this will happen when in person authentication is not required.
Hi Ed, two things here:
1. We don’t make any fees of transfers from one Abra account to another, or on add money/ withdraw transactions via bank accounts.
2. Each Abra wallet is unique to the phone it’s installed on. Sharing your backup phrase (the closest thing we have to a “password”) would be akin to literally giving someone your wallet and letting them add or take money from it. Additionally, only one phone number at a time can be associated with a wallet. So if you share your backup phrase with someone, then your wallet will no longer work. For these reasons, we do not recommend sharing your backup phrase.
Since we don’t charge fees to add/withdraw money via bank or on Abra < -> Abra transactions, it would not make sense to risk the security of your wallet by sharing your backup phrase with someone else.
Hope this helps clarify this for you!
Probably stupid question. Can I get app on my laptop instead of phone?
Hi Don! There is no such thing as a stupid question 🙂 Abra is only on Android and iOS right now.
Wells Fargo in PA refuses to transfer money from my checking account to a digital currency exchange such as ARBA. if I do, they will freeze the transaction and may result in confiscating the money. They said that Federal Regulations will prevent banks from working with these cybercurrency exchanges.
Hi Glen, we have had customers add money to their Abra wallets from Wells Fargo accounts without incident. It’s ultimately up to the bank to set their own policy, and it’s possible some branches may have different policies than others. But that’s what I know so far about customers using Wells Fargo with Abra.
wells fargo and chase bank will freeze money transfer to ABRA despite the fact that you added them to your biller. What bank is best for this exchange ? USAA OR PNC ?
Hi Brown, we have had customers add money to their Abra wallets from accounts at those banks without incident but it’s possible some branches or agents may be more “trigger happy” than others about what transfers to flag. You should be able to use any of the banks we support in the app to add money to your Abra wallet as long as you’re using your own account and pass the verification process.
i have difficulty transferring USD from my TD checking to my ABRA wallet.. However, two transactions did procsess,both on the same day. my wallet currency is set to BTC. should it be set to USD instead?
Hi Francis! Thanks for giving Abra a try. Regarding the transactions you’re having trouble with, it might be worth reaching out to support using the “Contact us” button in the main menu of the app and asking about what the issue might be. Regarding your wallet currency, it’s up to you! Just know that when the USD transfer is complete, it will be converted to bitcoin using the exchange rate at the time the transaction clears. If you set your wallet currency to USD, then you will be able to choose when to convert to bitcoin and at what price, as described in this blog post. Hope this helps!
I made my first deposit. (I’m new at this BTW.) When this deposit was made, did I buy BTC then or was ABRA just holding my USD? I later changed my currency to BTC and saw that I had X amount of BTC. If I change my currency back to USD will I no longer have BTC? Or will it show what my BTC is currently worth in USD?
This is my first ever venture into cyber currency.
I see that past transactions are not affected by changing the currency.
Now, I have a question about backing up my wallet. I did one back up and got my backup phrase. Are future backups automatic or do I have to backup manually each time and do I get a new backup phrase every time? You can tell by my question that I have only done one backup.
Well, I went back to change my currency and saw that I was about to convert my BTC back into USD. So I don’t know how things work.
> I did one back up and got my backup phrase. Are future backups automatic or do I have to backup manually each time and do I get a new backup phrase every time? You can tell by my question that I have only done one backup.
You only have to save your backup phrase once by writing it down and keeping it in a safe place, such as where you store other valuable documents or personal items. After that you can use the backup phrase to recover your wallet if you have to get a new phone or reinstall the app for any reason.
Hi Jan, thank you for your interest in Abra! I’ll try to address each of your questions here:
> When this deposit was made, did I buy BTC then or was ABRA just holding my USD? I later changed my currency to BTC and saw that I had X amount of BTC.
By default, the Abra wallet will hold your balance in your local fiat currency based on the phone number you signed up with. So if you signed up with a US phone number, your wallet will default to USD. You can change your wallet currency at any time by pressing the “Wallet currency” button in the main menu of the app.
If your wallet currency is set to USD, then when you make a deposit from your bank account, the money will show up in your wallet as USD. If your wallet currency is set to BTC, then the deposit will be converted from the currency in your bank account into BTC using the exchange rate at the time the transaction clears 2-3 business days later. For simplicity we recommend making sure that your wallet currency is the same as your bank currency, and performing the conversion after the money arrives in your wallet (as described in Step 1 in this blog post).
> If I change my currency back to USD will I no longer have BTC? Or will it show what my BTC is currently worth in USD?
Whatever currency is shown on the home screen or “dashboard” of your wallet is the currency you are holding in your wallet. You can only hold one currency at a time. So if the currency shown on your dashboard is USD, then that means your wallet is denominated in USD. If the currency shown is BTC, then it means that your wallet is denominated in BTC.
How much can I withdraw and deposit back into my back at any one time?
Up to $500 per day.
Edit: You can find information about our current limits on our FAQ: https://abra.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002918627-What-are-Abra-s-transaction-limits-new-
Can the bank account that I connect to Abra be a business bank account?
We do not currently support adding and withdrawing funds via business bank accounts.
I had setup my Abra account currency to be BTC and everything is fine. However, I plan to transfer, say $100, from my BofA to Abra. My question is when the transfer clears and my $100 reaches Abra, will it be automatically converted to BTC (as some exchange rate)? It would be nice if I have the option to decide that I want the $100 to stay in USD and only convert it to BTC when I feel it is a good time to convert. Basically what I am asking is that will Abra have the ability to keep user’s money in more than one currencies. I think it will be a very attractive feature to have. Thanks.
Hi PC, thanks for giving Abra a try! To answer your question: as per Step 1 in the blog post above, you should set your wallet currency to USD if you want to receive $100 in your Abra wallet. Your wallet currency will default to your local fiat currency based on the phone number you signed up with, but if you have changed your wallet currency to something other than e.g. USD then you will want to change it back so that when you transfer USD from your bank account it will arrive in your wallet as USD. Once the money is in your wallet, you can convert it to BTC using either of the two methods mentioned in Step 3 above. I find it easiest to just withdraw the USD to an external bitcoin wallet when the exchange rate is favorable, as opposed to converting my wallet currency to BTC and then having to convert it back when I want to add USD from my bank again – but it’s up to you. Hope this helps!
I am confused. Here is the way I see it now. First I need a bank that will trade with a broker that deals in BTC. I set up Set up the account with them so I can trade BTC with a different company, like Abra. Then I can trade. If I want cash back I have to do the reverse process. And I can only do this on a smartphone??!!!
What are you confused about? Is there a specific step in the process described in this blog post that you’re having trouble with?
I tried to make a with drawl from ABRA to my bank. I have had no issues transferring to my Abra account. But when I tried to transfer money back to my bank it was rejected. I tried transferring BTC to my bank, but my phone would not let me do it. When I changed my wallet currency to USD, the transaction went through. 2 days later I got an email from ABRA stating that my transfer was rejected. If this is going to happen I will close my account. If I can’t get to my $$, it is worthless.
Hi Todd, you can create a support ticket by pressing the “Contact us” button in the main menu of the app, our customer support team will then be able to help investigate this issue to find out what went wrong.
My bank is BBVA Compass. It is not on your list of banks at this time. Will you be adding it any time in the near future?
We do not have a timeline for BBVA Compass support at this time.
I’ve been recommended to use Abra as a digital wallet, however it doesn’t allow me to link an Australian bank account to it. Any advice would be appreciated?
Regards Warren Marks
Hi Warren, thanks for your interest! You are correct that Abra does not support linking an AU bank account today. Depending on the city you’re in, you may be able to add and withdraw money with cash via Abra Tellers – think of them like “human ATMs”. To see if there’s an Abra Teller near you, select “Use cash” on the “Add money” screen in the app and search for your city to see if there’s an Abra Teller nearby. If not, then currently the only other way to get money in and out of the wallet is using bitcoin.
Hope this helps!
so I read about ABRA on Stanisberry research letter and got the app. ! LOVE IT … I transferred $500 from my bank into the wallet. Easy! Then tonight I transferred a bitcoin from my VirWox account to my ABRA wallet. It said 2-3 days… but after reading the posts above, it appears you can only have one currency in your wallet at a time. Is that correct? so option 1 – my bitcoin will be converted to USD when it arrives in my ABRA wallet – joining my $500 I started with? Or (option 2) will there be $500 in USD and the bitcoin that I’m transferring will stay as Bitcoin – an additional B1 ($1200 value) or so in my wall as bitcoin? I got the ABRA app to buy and hold bitcoin – as I read it was much easier than the constant paypal transferring I was doing to fund a virwox account. It would be nice if we could hold more than one currency in the wallet? Is that to come in the future? I’m assuming though, that I will have to re convert back to bitcoin after my bitcoin funds come from virwox and get changed back to dollars. thanks
Hi Mark, glad to hear you are enjoying your experience so far! I can help answer your questions:
> Then tonight I transferred a bitcoin from my VirWox account to my ABRA wallet. It said 2-3 days… but after reading the posts above, it appears you can only have one currency in your wallet at a time. Is that correct? so option 1 – my bitcoin will be converted to USD when it arrives in my ABRA wallet – joining my $500 I started with? Or (option 2) will there be $500 in USD and the bitcoin that I’m transferring will stay as Bitcoin – an additional B1 ($1200 value) or so in my wall as bitcoin?
There are currently three ways to add money to your Abra wallet:
1. Abra Tellers (cash)
2. Bank transfer
3. Bitcoin
Bank transfers take about 2-3 business days to process, though some tests we’ve run recently show same-day funds in a best-case scenario.
For bitcoin deposits, you will receive a notification about a minute after the bitcoin transaction is sent (depending on the service that is being used to make the payment) and the bitcoin will be available in your wallet after one blockchain confirmation.
If your wallet currency is set to USD, then the bitcoin payment will be converted into USD upon receipt. The deposit notification will show the conversion rate used for the deposit. This information can also be found in your transaction history.
You can only hold one currency in your wallet at a time. Your request to hold multiple currencies is well-received, I will be sure to pass this along to our product team. It’s something we hear a lot and hope to support in the future. If you want to hold bitcoin in your Abra wallet, you can change your wallet currency to BTC at any time.
Hello! When my money is sitting in an Abra wallet in dollars, does Abra have custody of the dollars? Is it like having money sit in a bank?
Hi Sunil, thanks for your interest! Great question. The answer is “no”, Abra does not hold custody of your money. You are holding your own money on your phone using bitcoin. You can read about how this works on our FAQ: https://abra.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003984608-Can-you-share-more-about-Abra-s-Smart-Contracts-and-Hedging-
Are there weekly or monthly limits to the amount that I can deposit from a bank?
Hi Jeff, thanks for your interest! There are limits on our bank deposit/withdrawal feature. You can find the most up to date limits here:
https://abra.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002918627-What-are-Abra-s-transaction-limits-new-
Hi . Stupid question..
I’m from india. Say I buy 0.25 bitcoins as an investment, will it go up in value over time ? Also will I be able to cash in whenever I want on my investment?
Thanks
Hi Prashanth, great question! Thanks for asking. First, if you want to hold bitcoin in your Abra wallet, make sure you have changed your wallet currency to BTC. You can do this by pressing the “Wallet currency” button in the main menu of the app. Your wallet balance and any future deposits/ received funds will then be automatically converted into bitcoin. You will then be able to cash out your wallet at any time through any of our supported methods in your country.
How can I transfer bitcoin from coinbase to abra? Do I have to manually type in the address? Thanks
Hi Roy, to transfer bitcoin from Coinbase into your Abra wallet:
1. Make sure your Abra wallet currency is the currency you want it to be. If you want to hold bitcoin in your wallet, your wallet currency should be BTC. If you want to hold another currency, make sure you’ve set it to be that currency. You can find this setting in the menu under “Wallet currency”.
2. Press the “Add money” button on the home page of the Abra wallet. Select “Use bitcoin” then copy your address.
3. Paste the address into your Coinbase app or send it to yourself through a messaging app like email or Signal if you only use Coinbase on your desktop. Double-check that the address that you pasted matched the address in your Abra wallet, then send the bitcoins from Coinbase to that address.
You should receive a notification shortly after that the money has arrived in your Abra wallet. Let me know if you have any trouble with this!
Hi John – During setup of my bank (Chase) Abra is requiring my social security number. Is this a new requirement as I have read in other articles stating this was not required? I’m reluctant to enter my number for obvious reasons so I would appreciate your comments. Thanks!
Hi Jeff, thanks for your interest! I certainly understand your reluctance to enter this sensitive information. This is a new requirement imposed by our banking partner to ensure the security of your funds and help prevent your bank account from being fraudulently accessed by identity thieves. Abra does not store or access this information, it is passed along directly to our banking partner Synapse over an encrypted channel. You can learn more about how they use this information on their website: https://help.synapsepay.com/hc/en-us/sections/200928257-Security
Hi John… I don’t have a SSN (I don’t live in US), but still want to load Abra from my US banking account. How can I manage that situation? Cheers
Hi Deco, thanks for your interest! Please create a ticket with Customer Support so they can help you with this question. You can do this by pressing the “Contact us” button in the main menu of the app.
On TD Bank login page, user name and password are needed. What are those? My account number and TD Bank routing numbers should be all that is required.
I’m in the same situation and of the opinion that linkage should be capable with just account number and routing number via moneylink.
Did you receive a response ?
Hi Scott, thanks for your interest! Our bank integration partner Synapse uses the customer’s bank login details to process each transaction. You can read more about why they do this on their FAQ: https://help.synapsepay.com/hc/en-us/articles/223162448-Online-Logins-vs-Account-Routing-Numbers
You can also find information about Synapse’s security policies here: https://help.synapsepay.com/hc/en-us/sections/200928257-Security
Hi David, thanks for your interest! Please create a support ticket by pressing the “Contact Us” button in the main menu of the app and our Customer Support team will be happy to help you link your bank account.
Why is my daily limit only $250.00 from my bank when my balance is in the mid 5 figures. Also, is the money being transferred via ACH or wire. Can it be wired?
Hi Edward! Thanks for your interest. The daily limit is a limit imposed by Abra’s bank integration partner Synapse. This limit is put in place to prevent the platform from being abused by identity thieves and other fraudsters. All bank transfers processed by Synapse are processed as ACH transactions. They do not accept wire transfers.
This daily limit negates the reason many people open an Abra account. I want to purchase Bitcoins as an investment, so I need to purchase thousands of dollars of Bitcoins. I can’t do that when a purchase request of $100 is denied! Is there a way to provide credentials to Synapse since you seem to be passing the ball to them?
Hi Steve, as you point out, Abra can be used for buying smaller amounts of bitcoin but isn’t the right product to use if you want to buy thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin. For that, you may be interested in this blog post I wrote recently; I include a list of exchanges and brokerages at the end that can help you buy larger amounts of bitcoin: https://beyourownbankbook.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/creating-your-personal-bitcoin-vault/
When I first started with Abra my currency was in US dollars. I made two deposits of $100 each which showed in my account as dollars not Bitcoin. I then realized I needed to select Bitcoin as my currency. Everything else I have deposited since then is now in Bitcoin. My problem is how do I now convert the $200 into Bitcoin???
Hi Dennis, thanks for your interest! Great question. The Abra wallet only supports holding one currency at a time in your wallet. If you changed your wallet currency to BTC, then all money that you add to the wallet will be automatically converted into BTC and all money currently in your wallet will also be converted to BTC. So if your wallet currency is BTC, and you have money in your wallet, it is already converted into BTC. If you want to withdraw the BTC in your wallet to another bitcoin wallet, select “Bitcoin” on the “Withdrawal” page and follow the normal send bitcoin flow from there. Hope this helps – let me know if you have any other questions about this.
Thanks John, The two deposits in question were made on 4/28. They still haven’t converted. All other deposits after that have, so I guess I’m still confused.
Please create a support ticket by pressing the “Contact us” button in the main menu of the app so that our Customer Support team can investigate this issue.
Is it allowed to have more than one Abra account for the same person (registered using 2 different email accounts and mobile numbers ). I was thinking that with this added bitcoin functionality it may be advantageous to have one wallet always in bitcoin and the other at your fiat currency of choice so that this “fiat wallet’s” funds are not impacted by bitcoin’s volatile nature when you always convert from one to the other. Just wondering.
Hi Jep yes you can have more than one wallet, just not on the same phone. So you would have to have two phones and two phone numbers to have multiple wallets. Several users have asked us for “multiwallet” functionality on the same device so this is something we’re exploring but no timeline on when that could be released.
Thanks for the reply. Although I suspect it might work with Samsung Knox as essentially this creates a separate Android instance on the same device if I’m not mistaken. Will going to try it out. Thanks again.
If I have two bank accounts can I deposit $2000.00 monthly or $1000.00?
Hi Will, the limits are per-user, not per-bank account, so your total deposits are limited according to the chart on this page: https://abra.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002918627-What-are-Abra-s-transaction-limits-new-
Hi John: I tried to set up using my bank, which is on your list, but nowwhere in their system could they find me anyone who knew about dealing with Abra. I’m willing to try to set them up as I know some top people but I want to be specific when I talk with them. 1- What information does Abra need from the Bank? 2- How will Abra be contacting the bank and what will they be sending or requesting? 3- Is there anything that the bank needs to sign with you to set this up? 4- What info do you need from me in this transaction?
I look forward to your reply.
Hi Gene, if you go through the steps of adding your bank account, the app will walk you through step-by-step what you need to do to add your bank. If you still have questions, you can create a support ticket by pressing the “Contact us” button in the main menu of the app so our Customer Support team can help you out.
John, I’ve been trying for weeks to connect my Abra app to my South State Bank account and I can never login. But if I use my South State Bank app on my phone, I can login and review my account information with no problems. As the other gentleman mentioned, no one at the bank has any idea how to deal with Abra. I’ve sent several messages to Abra via the Contact Us link but never get any responses. What can I do?
Hi David, please open a support ticket so our customer support team can help you with this issue. You can create a ticket by pressing the “Contact us” button in the main menu of the app.
I did so previously and got no response. But I’ll try again …
I’m confused about limits. Am I to understand that I can only deposit and convert to Bitcoin $2,000/ month? Or can I do more under “user initiated ” with no limits?
Hi Craig, you can find our current limits on this page: https://abra.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002918627-What-are-Abra-s-transaction-limits-new-
“User initiated” means transactions that are sent to other Abra users or bitcoin addresses once there are funds in the wallet.
I have contacted my bank and have my phone number updated. Will you submit info to get second level of security sent to my phone? Thank You