Abra Bitcoin App is the WhatsApp of Money with Bill Barhydt

Bill is the CEO and Founder of Abra. What is Abra? Think of it as the “WhatsApp of Money.” A single app available in 200 cities that enables you to send money from your phone to any other phone, anywhere in the world.

Bill has co-founded a long list of Tech startups. He’s also worked for NASA, Goldman Sachs, and was a Senior Director for Netscape – the first commercially successful web browser.

In this episode, Bill and I discuss:

– Why traditional remittance companies like PayPal, Western Union and Venmo are quickly becoming obsolete

– Abra’s secret hedging strategies

– And why the irrational exuberance we’ve seen with ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings), may result in buyer’s remorse

SHOW NOTES

[00:51] – Who is Bill Barhydt? Introduction and overview

[02:30] – Why Bill created Abra

[05:10] – The challenges of Bitcoin remittances and why Abra is different (hint it has to do with user experience)

[08:12] – The “rookie” way of doing Bitcoin remittances

[09:38] – Abra’s elegant solution of using “synthetic” dollars, tellers, and exchange partners, to enable peer-to-peer money transfers without taking custody of funds

[14:25] – The differences between Abra, Western Union, PayPal, and Venmo

[17:15] – Bill’s most significant challenge with Abra

[18:56] – Abra’s surprise announcement due later this year (2017)

[19:37] – 200 hundred cities! The ever-expanding Abra network

[21:26] – How will Bitcoin’s woes impact Abra’s viability?

[23:08] – Would Abra consider another cryptocurrency to facilitate its peer-to-peer model (should Bitcoin go kaput)?

[24:49] – How Bill Barhydt discovered Bitcoin and Blockchain

[28:06] – How Abra uses a novel “synthetic” dollar as well as smart contract hedging to make the peer-to-peer model work

[32:14] – The one area (other than remittances) where Bill sees massive opportunity for Blockchain disruption

[33:36] – Bill’s perspective on the Blockchain “killer app”

[35:36] – What does Bill Barhydt think about ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings), and will Abra eventually go the ICO route?

[42:01] – Has Blockchain been overhyped, and will the industry see a “correction?”