Abra launches stock and ETF investing to international users with $0 trading fees for 2019

Mountain View, CA. 29th May 2019 – Abra, the world’s first global investment app, today announced the general availability of an industry first — the opportunity for investors outside of the United States to invest in traditional stocks and ETFs using Bitcoin. This product announcement is the next step in Abra’s vision to use Bitcoin’s programmable money features to create and democratise new financial products and services for users across the globe. 

“Investing in financial markets is a basic tool to build personal wealth. Yet outside of the United States, most of the world’s population is not invested in financial assets or markets due to issues of access and affordability, ” says Bill Barhydt, CEO and founder of Abra. “Abra is addressing this global inequality by allowing more people to have a stake in financial markets. The focus of this launch is to make financial markets of the developed world more accessible and affordable to those in emerging economies.” 

$5 minimums and $0 trading fees for 2019

Abra makes investing in stocks affordable for everyone with a fractionalized investment model and $5 minimum per investment. Just as investors can own a fraction of a bitcoin, they can now use Abra to own fractions of high-priced stocks and ETFs. As a special launch promotion, Abra will be offering $0 trading fees for the rest of 2019 on stock and ETF investments. 

More than 50 stocks and ETFs available

Starting today, investors outside of the United States can fractionally invest in more than 50 stock and ETF products, including:

– Popular stocks like Tesla, Uber, Apple, Amazon, Google, Netflix, and Berkshire Hathaway.

– Commodities such as SPDR Gold Trust and oil.

– Indexes including Vanguard Growth, the S&P 500, Real Estate, and the Russell 2000.

– International markets including Asia, Australia, Mexico, and Emerging Markets index funds.

“We’re thrilled to unveil the world’s first global investment app to those individuals who have been traditionally shut out of investing in financial markets,” says Willie Wang, VP of product at Abra. “Tens of thousands of investors from around the globe signed up for the waitlist to access this revolutionary new product. We’re excited to see which assets are most in demand globally and will continue to add assets as we collect feedback from users.”

Your keys, your crypto: a non-custodial wallet as a fundamental right

Unlike crypto exchanges or wallets that operate like traditional banks, Abra is a non-custodial platform. This means the funds are stored on the Bitcoin blockchain, making the transactions more secure and private than centralised databases used by most crypto exchanges and wallets. 

Abra is built this way on the belief that a non-custodial wallet is a fundamental right and the cornerstone to a new decentralised financial system. Decentralised alternatives to the traditional financial system hold the promise of universal access to financial services and products, like the ability for anyone, anywhere to have the same public market investing opportunities.

Getting started with Abra

Getting started with Abra is easy. To sign up and start investing for $0 trading fees on stocks and ETFs in 2019, simply download the app from Google Play or Apple Store and set up an Abra account. From there, users can fund the app using bank (EU and Philippines) and wire transfers, credit cards or other cryptocurrencies to get started. Once funds have been added, users can start investing in any of Abra’s supported assets.