Agora Raises $50 Million to Power Next Wave of Stablecoins

Stablecoin platform Agora has raised $50 million in a Series A round led by Paradigm, with additional backing from Dragonfly Capital, as it seeks to capitalize on growing interest in the potentially lucrative sector.

The funding will support the expansion of Agora’s all-in-one system for issuing and managing stablecoins, as well as the introduction of its new white-labeled stablecoin product, the company announced Thursday.

The raise comes as the U.S. Congress is considering stablecoin legislation. In June, the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act, which establishes a framework for issuing and trading stablecoins.

Co-founded by Nick van Eck, the son of fund management luminary Jan van Eck, along with crypto veterans Drake Evans and Joe McGrady, Agora’s raise follows an additional $12 million seed round in April of last year.

The platform’s native Agora Dollar stablecoin, AUSD, has rolled out across multiple networks, including Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, and Arbitrum. Firms using Agora’s services include Nonco, Flowdesk, VanEck, Conduit, and Plume Network.

“By building a shared liquidity and compliance infrastructure from the start, we allow branded stablecoins to launch in days, not months, with immediate access to on-chain liquidity, major exchanges, and compliant off-ramps through AUSD,” Nick van Eck, told Decrypt.

The asset is backed by cash, U.S. Treasury bills, and repurchase agreements, despite not yet being available to U.S. customers.

“Agora is committed to pursuing licensing where and when applicable,” van Eck added. “AUSD is not offered to U.S. persons today; we operate under a non-U.S. entity and are actively preparing U.S. licensure in parallel.”

Having debuted last year, Agora’s stablecoin platform enables developers and institutions to introduce and manage programmable digital dollars.

With the new capital, the company said it would introduce a white-label stablecoin service, enabling enterprises to launch their own branded stablecoins without managing the underlying infrastructure themselves.

Renewed interest from large financial players in blockchain-based payments and settlement tools, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and PayPal, has steered them toward a fresh slew of stablecoin products as political winds continue to shift in their favor.

“Stablecoins are no longer niche,” the company said. “They’ve become a foundational primitive for the future of finance and capital markets.”