Regulatory Concerns Force Abra to Restrict its Services for the US Users

Another cryptocurrency service provider is forced to make changes to US customers due to

“regulatory uncertainty and restrictions.”

Operating in the US is becoming increasingly “complex and challenging,” this is the reason why Abra is the latest one to cut down on some services for US users, which it says is the

“best course of action at the time.”

Cryptocurrency investment app, Abra is an all-in-one wallet and exchange app that allows its users to buy, sell, and hold 25 cryptocurrencies and 50 fiat currencies in one place up until now.

A Move to be Compliant with US Regulations

According to the latest announcement, the company is making adjustments to its US business in an effort to continue to be

“compliant and cooperative with US regulations as they currently exist.”

What this means for Abra users in the United States is that there will be system modifications around smart contact-based synthetic assets. For most US persons, it says, this migration will be seamless and one can continue to manage and transaction most of the assets from Abra app without any interruption.

However, during this migration, some assets may be unavailable to use that is an exchange, send, and withdraw but only for a few minutes.

US Users not Eligible for 4 cryptos, While New York Residents Losses More

According to these changes, after August 29, 2019, US users will no longer be “eligible” to hold EOS, Qtum (QTUM), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), OmiseGo (OMG), and Status (SNT).

As for the New York resident, they will be able to hold only four main cryptocurrencies viz. Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) on Abra.

The private keys for balances of any of these four crypto assets will continue to reside with the user.

Moreover, New York users will no longer be able to use bank ACH, wire or Amercian Express card for deposit or withdrawals.

These US holders that have positions in the restricted five cryptos and for New York residents ever crypto-asset except for the allowed ones, will have to either an exchange or withdraw their investments from Abra by 11:59 PM EST on August 29, 2019. In case a user doesn’t do the required, remaining balances will be converted to Bitcoin.