Agora Finance
“Can a stablecoin issuer win by sharing reserve yield with partners and wrapping the whole stack in a US federal trust charter?”
Founded2024
HQJersey City, New Jersey, United States
FoundersNick van Eck, Drake Evans, Joe McGrady
Total raised$62M
IndustryInfrastructure / Stablecoin
The story
Founded in 2024 by Nick van Eck, Drake Evans, and Joe McGrady, Agora issues AUSD — a fully reserved dollar stablecoin — through its Bermuda-regulated entity Agora Bermuda Limited under a BMA Class F digital asset license. The core thesis is that stablecoin issuers should share reserve economics with the partners who build with them, rather than retain the full float yield. Two years in, Agora filed for an OCC National Trust Bank charter (Agora National Trust Bank) to bring its stablecoin infrastructure under a federal charter and expand its product roadmap onshore in the US.
Last 12 months
Product timeline
2024
Company founded; privacy policy first published under Agora Blue Ltd.· founding
2024
Launched AUSD, a fully reserved dollar stablecoin issued by Agora Bermuda Limited under a BMA Class F digital asset license.· launch
2026
Filed application for Agora National Trust Bank with the OCC to obtain a federal trust bank charter.· banking
2026
Shipped Agora Public API (v0) for programmatic minting, redemption, transfers, and AUSD metrics.· launch
2026
Applied to charter Agora National Trust Bank — national trust bank (OCC, New York, NY); conditional approval — Corporate Decision 1393 2026-09-18. [charter]· banking
Regulated entities
2
regulatory licences held by Agora Finance
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
Bank charter application
Agora National Trust BankConditional approval
National trust bank · OCC · New York, NY · filed 2026-04-20
Conditional approval · Corporate Decision 1393 · 2026-09-18
Digital-asset custody, investment advisory and stablecoin issuance for the AUSD issuer under one federal framework instead of state money-transmitter licences.
Source · OCC decision letter
The stack
3 layers disclosed in Agora Finance’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
AUSD stablecoin rails (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Crypto
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
2 more providers across 2 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.