Abra to go public via SPAC in $750M deal as it eyes $10B in crypto AUM
San Francisco crypto wealth manager Abra Financial Holdings said Monday it will go public through a business combination with New Providence Acquisition Corp. III (Nasdaq: NPACU), a special purpose acquisition company. The combined company is expected to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker ABRX and the transaction values Abra at $750 million on a pre-money basis, the companies said in a press release.
Existing backers—including Adams Street, Blockchain Capital, Pantera Capital, RRE Ventures and SBI—will roll 100% of their stakes into the merged entity. New Providence’s trust currently holds up to $300 million in cash (subject to shareholder redemptions), which the companies say will provide growth capital for the combined business.
What Abra says it will offer
Abra is marketing itself as the first publicly traded firm with an SEC-registered investment advisor focused specifically on digital-asset wealth management. Its product mix includes custody, trading, yield strategies and collateralized lending. The company has set an aggressive target of surpassing $10 billion in assets under management by the end of 2027. “Our aim is to bring institutional-grade on-chain crypto wealth management products to investors worldwide within a regulated and transparent framework,” CEO Bill Barhydt said.
Regulatory baggage and settlements
The deal comes against a backdrop of regulatory scrutiny. In July 2020 both the SEC and the CFTC pursued actions against Abra—alleging unregistered security-based swaps and illegal off-exchange swaps, respectively—and the company ultimately paid $300,000 in combined fines in 2024 to resolve those matters ($150,000 to each agency).
Separately, the SEC filed (and later settled) charges in August 2024 against Abra’s subsidiary Plutus Lending LLC over its retail crypto lending product, Abra Earn, alleging failures to register the product and that the business functioned as an unregistered investment company for roughly two years. At its height, Abra Earn held about $600 million in assets, nearly $500 million of which came from U.S. investors. In addition, Abra agreed in June 2024 to return roughly $82 million in cryptocurrency as part of a settlement with 25 states over unlicensed operations. The Texas State Securities Board also brought an enforcement action related to Abra Earn and alleged securities fraud in 2023.
Abra has maintained that consumers were not harmed, noting that assets for U.S. Earn customers—including accrued interest—were moved into Abra Trade accounts in 2023 as part of remedial measures.
Market reaction
At the time of the announcement NPACU—the SPAC taking Abra public—was trading up about 0.91% from the opening bell, at roughly $10.51 per share.
The deal will place Abra under public market scrutiny as it seeks to scale institutional-grade crypto wealth products while navigating a history of regulator actions that will likely remain in focus for investors.
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