Abra CEO Describes Use of Bitcoin as Digital Collateral for Real World Assets as Top Attribute Today

Bitcoin has been looking for a place in the financial industry since it was created over 10 years ago, and the way it should be used has been hotly debated. Recently, Abra CEO Bill Barhydt spoke on his own app at the 2019 MIT Bitcoin Expo, according to reports from Forbes. As he spoke on the platform, he explained that Abra enables user to connect the value of Bitcoin to many other assets, including US dollars or Apple stocks.

At the end of the presentation, the conversation with the audience turned to ow the users on the app could impact Bitcoin’s value. However, he sees Abra as the absolute best use of bitcoin at the moment, along with the “collateralization of real-world assets to facilitate banking.” He added that there is a second layer to the app that allows for real-world payments, but there is not enough bitcoin in circulation at the moment for the collateralization of all assets that someone would use in this case.

Abra does not directly act as a custodian for Bitcoin, though it locks the funds within a multisig address. Barhydt does not think that Abra will be alone in this path, especially considering the impact of hyperinflation recently in Venezuela. While some proponents see this situation as a perfect use case for Bitcoin, the token is still extremely volatile. By pegging Bitcoin directly to the dollar, which could be done in the Abra app, the user is not left wide open to the dangers of volatility.

Following up these questions, Barhydt explained that the limit that Bitcoin faces right now is in the lack of a fully developed payment layer. He said that the price would not have a limit, but the layer one is the issue. He sees the evolution of Abra wallets becoming Lightning wallets, which would be a server version that is compatible exchanges and other banks. Luckily, the CEO also revealed that they would be announcing this development at a broader capacity soon.

For a full explanation of the way that Abra could put the price of Bitcoin up, visit https://www.forbes.com/sites/ktorpey/2019/02/07/the-bitcoin-price-could-get-a-massive-boost-from-this-app/#d5dfef952648.