Quick take:
- Although Agora’s parent organisation is based in Delaware, the stablecoin will initially be available outside the US.
- Co-founders Nick Van Eck, Drake Evans and Joe McGrady said the issuing entity will be based in The British Virgin Islands.
- Van Eck believes despite Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, there is still room for a newcomer in the stablecoin market.
VanEck Scion the investment firm founded by Nick Van Eck, the son of investment management veteran Jan Van Eck, has raised $12 million in a seed round led by Dragonfly. The fundraising also attracted participation from leading digital asset venture firms General Catalyst and Robot Ventures.
Van Eck has teamed up with crypto veterans Drake Evans and Joe McGrady to launch Agora, a stablecoin pegged on the US dollar. The co-founders believe that despite the dominance of the USDT and USDC, there is still room for a newcomer in one of the fastest-growing segments of the digital assets industry.
Over the last few years, we have seen multiple mainstream financial services companies launch stablecoins including PayPal’s PYUSD. Other institutions have focused on the tokenisation of real-world assets, which is not too far from what stablecoins are.
Agora describes itself as a financial solutions provider offering stability by pegging its value to assets like the dollar, backed by cash, Treasury bonds, and repurchase agreements.
Although the parent company is incorporated in Delaware, the Agora stablecoin will initially be available outside of the US, Van Eck told Bloomberg in an interview.
“Until there’s federal legislation for stablecoins in the US, we’re going to focus primarily on customers outside of the US,” the 27-year-old said.
According to the announcement, the issuing entity will be based in The British Virgin Islands.
Kyle DaCruz, director of digital assets product at VanEck added that VanEck will manage a fund for Agora’s reserves as part of Agora’s demonstration of transparency and trustworthiness.
“There is a need to have transparent and trustworthy institutions managing the assets of these digital dollars,” said DaCruz. “The exciting future of stablecoins is one in which audited and transparent stablecoin reserves are standard and we are looking forward to helping Agora build that future.”
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