Agora
Issuer of the AUSD stablecoin and onchain financial infrastructure
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About Agora
Agora is a U.S.-based issuer of the AUSD stablecoin, a dollar-pegged digital currency deployed across multiple blockchains including EVM networks, Solana, and Sui. Its core business is providing a fully reserved, 1:1 redeemable dollar token designed for payments, treasury management, and settlement. The company's competitive edge lies in its institutional-grade reserve management (with VanEck overseeing reserves and State Street as custodian) and its use of LayerZero's OFT standard to create unified cross-chain liquidity, avoiding fragmented supply pools. Agora's narrative centers on being "bare metal infrastructure" for stablecoin adoption, prioritizing regulatory compliance and transparency over DeFi incentives.
Market pain points addressed include the trade-off users face between trust (reserve quality) and usability (cross-chain fragmentation), as well as the lack of clear federal oversight for stablecoin issuers. Agora is pursuing a national trust bank charter to gain uniform federal regulation, which would expand its product capabilities and institutional appeal.
In the past six months (Feb-Aug 2026), AUSD processed over $20 billion in transfer volume in Q1 2026, up 355% year-over-year, with 10 million transactions and 35,000+ unique wallets. On Monad, supply surged 124% in one week to $72.68 million (40% of total supply), driven by Pendle yield pool incentives. In June 2026, Agora hired former Robinhood Crypto COO Tanya Denisova as head of operations, signaling a shift toward sustainable, regulated operations. However, the company ended its earlier DeFi incentive phase in 2025, and concerns remain about reserve transparency, audit frequency, redemption performance, and chain concentration risk (40% supply on a single chain).
Agora was founded in 2024 by Nick van Eck, Drake Evans, and Joe McGrady, and completed a $12 million seed round led by Dragonfly in April of the same year. In July 2024, AUSD launched on Ethereum mainnet, marking its first on-chain deployment. In August 2024, AUSD expanded to Avalanche, and in September 2024, it deployed on Sui, becoming the first institutional-grade USD stablecoin on a non-EVM chain. In October 2024, AUSD launched on Injective as its first native stablecoin. In November 2024, Polygon's AggLayer adopted AUSD as a native stablecoin, enabling cross-chain liquidity without traditional bridges. In January 2025, Agora completed a $50 million Series A round led by Paradigm, and executed its first OTC transaction with Galaxy, transitioning from proof-of-concept to real-world application. In May 2025, Agora integrated Chaos Labs' Proof of Reserves system, enabling on-chain verification of backing assets. By September 2025, AUSD had expanded to Solana and Mantle, with plans for Sei, Berachain, and Citrea via LayerZero. As of Q2 2026, AUSD has processed over $84 billion in total transfer volume across 36 million transactions, with a market cap of approximately $128 million. Agora's stablecoin API allows programmatic minting, redemption, and transfer, while its white-label stablecoin service enables partners to launch branded stablecoins on its infrastructure. The company shares the economics of AUSD with partners, differentiating itself from issuers that retain all revenue.
Over the past six months, Agora reported Q1/Q2 2026 results: Q1 AUSD transfer volume exceeded $20B across 10M transfers, with 35,000+ holders (+267% YoY); Q2 volume surpassed $11B (+154% YoY), lifetime volume exceeded $84B (+500%+ YoY), holders surpassed 38,000 (+104% YoY), and average transfer size grew over 150%. In July, AUSD surpassed 10,000 holders and $100M onchain on Monad, making Agora and Circle the largest stablecoin issuers on the network. Agora also launched the beta Agora API, offering real-time onchain data, account management, and mint/redeem routes for institutions and AI agents.
Future focus and roadmap: Agora filed for a national trust bank charter with the OCC, aiming to enter the US market under a unified federal framework. With the charter, it plans to offer a suite beyond stablecoin issuance — settlement infrastructure, treasury management, and fiat connectivity — building a financial operating system for global businesses. The API roadmap includes embedded wallets, wallet transfers, whitelabel tokens, and rewards.
Nick van Eck (Co-Founder & CEO): Previously a Partner at General Catalyst (2019-2023) and Analyst at JMI Equity (2018-2019). Started as Investment Associate at Cambridge Associates (2017).
Drake Evans (Co-Founder & CTO): Currently Head of Lending & Core Engineering Lead at Frax Finance (since 2022). Earlier founded Dapphero (2019-2020), worked as Software Engineer at Vancery (2018-2019), and held roles at Equilibre Capital (Analyst to Associate, 2015-2018).
Recent team changes at Agora (USD stablecoin issuer): Tanya Denisova joined in June 2026 as Head of Operations. Facundo Werning departed in August 2026, previously Head of Latam and Special Projects.