Abra launches Treasury service for corporates that want to hold crypto

Abra, the digital asset prime services and wealth management platform, has launched Abra Treasury, a service for corporates that want to hold crypto on their balance sheet as a reserve asset, the company said in a press release on Monday.

The service will be operated by Abra Capital Management, which is an SEC-registered investment advisor, and will provide corporates, family offices, and non-profits with a range of digital asset treasury management solutions.

Abra Treasury’s offering combines custody, trading, borrowing, and yield services and clients can hold their crypto in separately managed clients, allowing them to retain title and ownership over their digital assets, the company said.

The current uncertain macro environment, characterized by higher inflationary pressures and rising geopolitical tension, has forced some corporate treasurers to consider adding bitcoin (BTC) as a reserve asset to their balance sheets.

MicroStrategy (MSTR) is the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, with a stash of 226,331 tokens. The Nasdaq-listed software firm led by Michael Saylor started accumulating the oldest cryptocurrency in 2020.

“A sign of adoption and institutionalization of the digital asset industry has been the increase in non-crypto-native businesses showing interest in using bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset,” said Marissa Kim, head of asset management at Abra Capital Management.

“We are increasingly seeing clients that are business owners and CEOs of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), in particular real estate companies, with interest in buying BTC for their treasury or borrowing against BTC to finance business needs or real estate projects, which we did not see last cycle,” Kim said in the release.

Abra and its founder and CEO William “Bill” Barhydt settled with 25 state financial regulators for operating its mobile application without the proper licenses, according to an announcement on Wednesday from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS). Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Abra will return up to $82.1 million in crypto to U.S. customers in the settling states.