Bitcoin payment startup Abra via its blog on yesterday, June 12 has announced the addition of new payment options via credit and debit cards for purchasing bitcoins on its platform.
The new payment options on Abra’s platform are Visa and Mastercard, and the effort is a result of the company’s partnership with Fintech firm Simplex. This broadens the convenience of buying bitcoins at the site abra.com or via the platform’s app.
Before this introduction, Abra for its users only had bank deposits and wire transfers as purchase options of the cryptocurrency. For the countries where these two systems are unavailable, the platform provides a way to buy altcoins using either bitcoin or Litecoin.
Today we have users from over 70 countries, but the majority of these users who are outside the U.S. could only fund their Abra wallet using bitcoin. With this launch, we can now offer a simple way for customers globally to use Abra to buy their first bitcoin using any Visa or Mastercard and then start investing in any of the other 24 cryptocurrencies we support today. – Bill Barhydt, Abra CEO to Bitcoin
The new options bring further benefits: increased buy limits, more accessibility, and of course faster processing times. The buy limit using Visa and Mastercard on Abra is $20,000 worth of bitcoin in one instance. It is a level above the $2,000 limit on bank depositions.
Moreover, you can now store your purchased bitcoins into any compatible wallet. According to Abra, the processing time will be shorter with new bitcoins being available 30 minutes after purchase in the digital wallets.
It should be taken into account that Abra hasn’t adopted the KYC/AML regulations wholly, like a few other cryptocurrency platforms. The company sent an email across its clientele in June that users do not have to provide any identifying information to use the platform.
Barhydt said that his company doesn’t hold customer funds that makes them avoid such complexities related to identity info. Having said that, the platform requires American users to submit their identity when they want to increase funding limits via bank transfer options.
