Abra Treasury Launches to Help Corporates Manage Crypto Reserves

Abra, a digital asset prime services and wealth management platform, has introduced Abra Treasury, a new service designed for corporates to hold cryptocurrencies as reserve assets on their balance sheets. The service offers a range of digital asset treasury management solutions tailored for corporates, family offices, and non-profits.

Operated by Abra Capital Management, an SEC-registered investment advisor, Abra Treasury integrates custody, trading, borrowing, and yield services. It allows clients to securely manage their cryptocurrencies in separately managed accounts, maintaining ownership and control over their digital assets.

Corporate Treasurers Explore Bitcoin

Amidst macroeconomic uncertainties like rising inflation and geopolitical tensions, corporate treasurers are increasingly considering Bitcoin (BTC) as a reserve asset. MicroStrategy, a Nasdaq-listed software firm led by Michael Saylor, exemplifies this trend, holding the largest corporate Bitcoin reserve with 226,331 tokens accumulated since 2020.

Marissa Kim, Head of Asset Management at Abra Capital Management, noted the growing interest among non-crypto-native businesses in using Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. Many business owners and CEOs of small to medium-sized enterprises, particularly in real estate, are now exploring BTC purchases for their treasuries or using BTC as collateral for financing needs and projects.

“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,” said Kim.

Recently, Abra and its founder and CEO, William “Bill” Barhydt, settled with 25 state financial regulators. The agreement, announced by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), mandates Abra to reimburse up to $82.1 million in cryptocurrency to customers in the settling states.

Metaplanet Follows MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Strategy

Inspired by MicroStrategy’s successful Bitcoin strategy, other public companies are also considering adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets. In April, Metaplanet announced its decision to incorporate Bitcoin into its treasury assets to mitigate exposure to the Japanese yen, which has been affected by Japan’s low-interest-rate environment. Metaplanet views Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, a tool for macroeconomic resilience, and a source of long-term capital appreciation.

Major corporate investors in Bitcoin, including MicroStrategy, have already seen substantial profits. According to Saylortracker, with current market prices around $67,000, MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings are valued at over $14.59 billion, reflecting an unrealized profit of almost $6.5 billion and a yield-to-date gain of nearly 104% since Saylor’s investment strategy began in 2020.