Abra Supports SEPA Bank Transfers, Enabling Crypto Purchases With Fiat

Abra, the all-in-one digital wallet and cryptocurrency exchange, has announced its support for Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) bank accounts. European users can now enable direct wire transfers from European banks to purchase any of Abra's 28 available cryptocurrencies.

Founded in 2014, Abra is working toward providing users with maximum privacy and control. The application is non-custodial, and the wallet's private keys are never held by anyone other than the actual user. Abra employs no middlemen, ensuring customer funds are never touched, managed or viewed by outside parties. Past and present investors in Abra include American Express Ventures, First Round Capital, Arbor Ventures and RRE Ventures.

Bill Barhydt is the founder and CEO of Abra. Speaking with Bitcoin Magazine, he explains, "Abra's new European bank transfers will be available to people living in 34 countries if they have a SEPA-supported bank account. We get asked all the time by our users in Europe to try and find ways to make investing in cryptocurrencies easier."

Abra wallets were initially funded using wire and bank transfers in the U.S. Customers could also purchase crypto using both credit or debit cards. The platform's integration of SEPA will give several European Union nations the chance to deposit either national fiat currencies or euros into their Abra wallets to invest in cryptocurrencies. Among the countries now privy to this service are Poland, Romania, Cyprus, Austria, Germany and Italy.

Abra's recent partnership with Coinify — a secure platform for buying and selling bitcoin — is what helps to connect SEPA bank accounts with the Abra app. Once users have deposited funds into their Abra wallets, Coinify transfers the money into BTC based on present exchange rates. Users can then use their bitcoins to purchase any of Abra's other cryptocurrency offerings.

Furthermore, Abra says it is adding three more cryptocurrencies to its trading system: Cardano (ADA), Basic Attention Token (BAT) and Tron (TRX). Abra also allows users to hold and trade bitcoin, ether, ethereum classic, bitcoin cash, dash and dogecoin among others.

Barhydt states, "We are constantly looking for new ways to help make investing in cryptocurrency more simple and secure. By adding bank deposit support in Europe, we enable millions of people who are just entering crypto [to] gain exposure to this new asset class. We are also working on adding funding support to more countries across the globe. We have a lot of big plans in the next few months that are aimed at reducing some of the barriers to entry for cryptocurrency investors. In addition to that, we are constantly vetting more cryptocurrencies to add to the app."

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.