Abra, a cryptocurrency wealth platform, has announced plans to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
A SPAC deal involves a shell company acquiring a private company and then merging to take it public without having to undergo the rigorous due diligence of a traditional initial public offering (IPO).
This deal will see Abra merge with SPAC vehicle New Providence Acquisition Corp. III (NASDAQ: $NPACW) in a deal that values the cryptocurrency company at US$750 million.
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The combined company will be renamed “Abra Financial” and is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange (NASDAQ: $NDAQ) under the symbol “ABRX.”
An exact date for the market debut has not been announced.
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Abra offers a range of services for cryptocurrency investors.
Its platform allows institutions, registered investment advisors, family offices, and wealthy individuals to store and trade cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH).
Abra also enables trading of hundreds of crypto tokens and allows customers to earn yield and borrow cash against their digital assets.
Abra management says the company operates as an SEC-registered investment advisor and frames its services as a bridge between traditional wealth management and the crypto markets.
The money raised thanks to the SPAC deal will be used to support product development and expansion in areas such as real-world tokenized assets and decentralized finance (DeFi).
Abra has a stated goal of managing more than US$10 billion by 2027.
The company previously ran a cryptocurrency trading operation targeting retail investors before returning funds to clients and pivoting to focus on institutional investors and high-net-worth clients.