Stablecoin issuer Agora raised $50 million in a Series A funding round led by crypto venture firm Paradigm. The investment sets the stage for Agora to expand its white-label stablecoin offering, AUSD, amid growing interest in dollar-backed digital assets.
Agora enables companies to launch their own branded stablecoins using AUSD’s underlying infrastructure, benefiting from shared liquidity and interoperability. The project is founded by Nick van Eck, son of VanEck CEO Jan van Eck, alongside crypto veterans Drake Evans and Joe McGrady.
“What we wanted to do is really something novel, which is start by building the network,” van Eck told Fortune. “We always had the view that we were going to do white-labeled issuance in a different way to how existing peers had done it.”
The company has already collaborated with crypto projects like Polygon to issue customized stablecoins and plans to expand partnerships beyond blockchain-focused firms.
Paradigm, co-founded by Coinbase’s Fred Ehrsam, led the investment alongside Dragonfly Capital, which exercised its rights to increase its stake.
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Crowded stablecoin market
Agora enters a competitive space dominated by industry giants Circle and Tether, which boast market caps of $62 billion and $158 billion, respectively. In contrast, Agora’s market cap sits at less than $130 million.
Non-crypto giants such as Meta, Apple, Google and Elon Musk’s X have also shown interest in entering the stablecoin market. World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized finance platform co-founded by US President Donald Trump and his family, has also launched its own USD1 stablecoin.
Regulatory uncertainty in the US under the Biden administration pushed Agora to prioritize international markets, targeting regions where currency volatility and cross-border payments created demand. However, pending US legislation, particularly the GENIUS Act, may open doors for Agora stateside.
Van Eck said the company is preparing to acquire money transmitter licenses and expects to serve US customers if a federal regulatory framework emerges.
“A lot of different financial institutions outside of the US, I would say, are looking more aggressively and will be quicker to move than some of the companies in the US,” van Eck said. “A lot of companies in the US are talking about it because it’s the topic du jour.”
Coinpectra reached out to Agora for comment but had not received a response by publication.
Related: AggLayer adopts Agora’s AUSD as native stablecoin
Agora’s AUSD makes debut OTC trade
Earlier this year, asset manager Galaxy and Agora completed the first over-the-counter trade using AUSD, marking a step from concept to real-world use.
Agora launched in April last year after securing $12 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by Dragonfly, with support from Robot Ventures, Wintermute, Breed and General Catalyst, where van Eck was formerly a partner.
Unlike leading stablecoins such as USDC (USDC) and USDt (USDT), Agora shares the yield generated from reserve assets with its partners. “One of the things we believed in the very beginning was that stablecoins should be run like public goods, which to us meant the lion’s share of the revenue gets passed to the people who are providing value,” Evans said.
Magazine: Bitcoin vs stablecoins showdown looms as GENIUS Act nears