Abra settles with 25 states, will refund $82 million to U.S. customers

Digital investment platform Abra and its founder and CEO William Barhydt have reached a settlement with financial regulators in 25 states.Abra will refund up to $82 million in cryptocurrency to U.S. customers in those states for operating its mobile app without the proper licenses. The settlement agreement requires Abra to stop accepting cryptocurrency distributions and transactions from U.S. Abra Trade customers. Barhydt also agreed not to participate in any capacity in money transmission or money services operations within those 25 states for the next five years. Charlie Clark, director of the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, said that state financial regulators will take violations seriously. The settlement also resolves Abra's unregistered securities sales issues with certain state securities regulators, a spokesperson for Abra noted. Since June 2023, Abra has returned more than $250 million, or about 99 percent of the assets held by its retail clients in the U.S. Abra continues to operate in the U.S. through Abra Capital Management, an SEC-registered investment adviser.