Stellar Full Go on Abra Integration – $5 Million

This week, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) raised eyebrows across the financial sector after the group invested $5 million into Abra. Importantly, Abra is a crypto-financial ecosystem that allows users to trade 30+ cryptocurrencies and 50 fiat currencies. Notably, the company specializes in remittance payments.  The investment demonstrates a further expansion of the XLM ecosystem.

Leverage Stellar Blockchain

According to company officials, SDF invested $5 million into Abra to build on its crypto financial services department. Notably, this is the largest enterprise investment made by the firm to date. Discussing the windfall, Abra CEO Bill Barhydt explained the overall desire of his firm. He spoke on leveraging Stellar’s close relationships with the banking sector. It's these relationships that should help the firm edge into the security token and stablecoin sectors.

In another interview, SDF chief Denelle Dixon described how the investment brings enormous value to the network. She touched on some of the capabilities of the next-generation financial technology platform and how it will give banks more flexibility. Lastly, she explained in more detail some of the new financial services the investment will help bring to the table.

Abra Integration

Importantly, the decision to invest in Abra comes just weeks before the company is set to convert all services over to the Stellar blockchain. The integration will give Abra users upgrades across the platform including a more robust wallet and investment app. The upgrades streamline the entire UX and provide users with more security and faster transactions.

Abra via Homepage

This latest foray falls in line with Stellar's shift towards the stablecoin sector. Stellar continues to make strategic partnerships in this realm. For example, Wirex announced it planned to launch 26 fiat-backed coins on the network back in April 2019. Notably, IBM even partnered with Stellar to launch a stable coin backed by FDIC-Insured banks a few months later.

Now, Stellar developers want to delve deeper into the digitization of traditional financial assets. According to company executives, the team will now allow fractional investments in exchange-traded funds. This addition will give thousands of banks across the globe the ability to handle fiat-to-crypto conversions. Specifically, Abra seeks to cement its positioning in the Philipino remittance markets. The latest investment is sure to help the group leverage its technological advantages.

Abra

Abra entered the market in 2014 with the goal to simplify the remittance sector via blockchain integration. Importantly, the group is based out of San Francisco. Abra currently operates one of the most popular Bitcoin remittance apps in the market. Integrating the platform with Stellar's blockchain makes sense because it provides s a more secure and robust experience for all parties.

A Smart Combo

Abra originally raised eyebrows in the cryptocommunity after the company secured $40 million in funding during its launch. Now it appears that Abra is ready to move on to the next step of their strategic expansion. You can expect to hear more from this ingenuitive team as the platform continues to expand its functionality and reach.