Bill Barhydt, Silicon Valley-based founder and CEO Abra said the cryptocurrency industry will expand again this year when big investors enter the market. Barhydt, a serial entrepreneur, founded the business in 2014 and it has raised $40 million in funding from the likes of American Express, Fidelity’s venture capital arm, and Foxconn, the Asian manufacturer of parts for Apple.
Despite market fluctuations, Barhydt thinks prices will recover by the end of the year as institutional investors such as hedge funds and asset managers will begin to enter the cryptocurrency markets, he said in an interview with Business Insider.
“I talk to hedge funds, high net worth individuals, even commodity speculators. They look at the volatility in the crypto markets and they see it as a huge opportunity. Once that happens, all hell will break loose.
He added: “Once the floodgates are opened, they’re opened.”
“There really is zero large-scale institutional money from the west in crypto right now,” Barhydt said. “That is happening in Japan. Once a arge sizable chunk of Western institutional money starts to come in – watch out.
“Institutional interest is now starting to grow regardless of the Google trends.”
Abra is now the first and only all-in-one app that allows users to buy, sell and store over 20 cryptocurrencies and 50 legal currencies. Users can make changes in any currency without deposit or exchange fees, at any time and without limits.
“People are really interested in altcoins, what’s going to be the next big thing,” he said. “We weren’t expecting the growth to be this fast.”
Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, Dash, Zcash, Bitcoin Gold, Lumen Stellar, DigiByte, Dogecoin, Golem, OmiseGO, Qtum, Augur, Status, Stratis, Vertcoin and 0x are the first 20 cryptocurrencies available.
