Texas State Securities Bureau Settles Lawsuit with Abra, Allowing Investors to Withdraw Funds

According to CoinDesk, the Texas State Securities Bureau (TSC) has settled its lawsuit against crypto lender Abra, allowing approximately 12,000 investors to withdraw millions of dollars worth of previously frozen funds. Under the settlement's terms, Abra must enable investors to claim crypto they deposited in interest-bearing accounts such as Abra Boost and Abra Earn. These funds, worth around $13.6 million last year, were locked up on the firm's platform last summer. The agreement, if honored, will dismiss a series of enforcement actions over Abra's offering of its Earn and Boost investment products at a time when it was nearly – if not completely – insolvent, according to the TSC. The TSC alleged the products were securities, meaning the registration of both products falls under the agency's purview. Abra must open up withdrawals, in addition to completing other stipulations laid out in the agreement, within the next 30 days. Abra clients with balances greater than $10 will receive a notification about how to retrieve funds from their accounts, which must be done during a seven-day withdrawal window. Any unclaimed funds will be converted to U.S. dollars and sent as checks to investors in Texas, according to the settlement's terms. This settlement follows a series of similar settlements between cryptocurrency companies and state and federal regulators. Last week, Digital Currency Group (DCG) subsidiary Genesis Global Capital reached an $8 million settlement with regulators in New York.