*By Tanaya Macheel*
Abra, a five-year-old crypto company that has historically been focused on remittances, is starting to look like a fintech app itself; it will soon give users the ability to use their bitcoin to invest in traditional assets “like Apple, Amazon, gold and the S&P 500," according to a customer email it sent late Tuesday. The minimum investment is five dollars and Abra will waive fees on traditional stocks and ETF investing for the rest of 2019.
If successful, Abra might actually succeed in truly “democratizing financial services” — the mantra of fintech startups that once sought to disrupt the old guard of the banking industry that maintained its wealth and power on consumers’ reliance on them. Abra, a crypto exchange and digital wallet startup, is available in at least 155 countries and supports the buying, storing and now investing of 30 cryptocurrencies and 50 fiat currencies.
Bill Barhydt, Abra’s CEO, has been vocal about his vision for Abra to become a sort of crypto bank, where users can act as custodians of their own money, whether it’s bitcoin or dollars or other crypto and fiat currencies, and whether it’s investing, credit or simply transferring money between two people. Traditional and even upstart digital banks haven’t figured out how to be a truly global, borderless bank in that sense, thanks in large part to regulatory requirements that vary from market to market and can sometimes be burdensome for the banks. Abra is particularly innovative among crypto and fintech startups because it allows users to store bitcoin as their currency of choice. And as bitcoin as of now isn’t considered “real money” Abra [isn’t subject to the same regulations] (https://cheddar.com/videos/abra-ceo-aims-to-upend-banking-sector-with-crypto-backed-synthetic-money) or licensing requirements as banks.
There’s no shortage of investing apps in fintech. CommonBond, Swell, and Invstr are just a few variations of the hugely successful Robinhood app. Even Chase, the largest U.S. bank by assets, has introduced YouInvest as its answer to the popular trend.
Robinhood and Square’s Cash App both have crypto buying and selling services, but neither app has enabled users to use their crypto funds for other services. For example, Robinhood requires users to connect a bank account to trade stocks or cryptocurrency, and Cash App users can’t yet use their crypto funds to pay for purchases using their Cash Card.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
Nvidia reported a 56% increase in second-quarter revenue and a 59% rise in net income compared to a year ago.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claims audiences don't want to watch Netflix movies in theaters, but that seems not to be the case recently.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
