Injective Launches Agora's AUSD as its First Native Stablecoin

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Oct 31, 2024, 11:33 ET

Agora, co-founded by Nick van Eck, offers AUSD an institutional-grade stablecoin that pursues an open model. AUSD, backed by Van Eck and custodied by State Street, bolsters liquidity between DeFi and TradFi markets.

NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Injective, the blockchain optimized for finance, today announced the launch of its first native stablecoin on the Injective network: Agora's fully collateralized U.S. digital dollar, AUSD. With the reserves managed by Van Eck and custodied at State Street, AUSD offers users one of the industry's most institutional-grade assets to facilitate efficient transactions between Injective and primary markets.

AUSD as a native stablecoin enhances interoperability within Injective's expansive DeFi network. The asset standardizes how users can trade across various markets and earn yield through staking and lending—benefiting directly from Injective's rising economic value. By eliminating the need for bridges, AUSD allows seamless on and off ramp capabilities between Injective and centralized exchanges, which in turn facilitates a more liquid financial ecosystem where both DeFi and TradFi market makers can operate hand-in-hand.

Eric Chen, CEO and Co-Founder of Injective Labs, commented on the news: "AUSD is differentiated from other stablecoins in how it is institutional-grade, credibly neutral, and shares the majority of its revenue with businesses. This makes it a powerful vehicle in Injective's initiatives—including burn auctions and on-chain staking—to ensure users are the core beneficiaries of ecosystem revenue. Support from world class asset managers and GSIB's are a testament to Injective's and Agora's potential to achieve our collective mission in merging institutional and DeFi systems through decentralized financial infrastructure."

Injective's launch of Agora contributes to the momentum of the stablecoin market's growth, now the third largest sector of the crypto ecosystem behind Bitcoin and Ethereum. The stablecoin market boasts a total market capitalization of over $170B. Currently, more than $65B in stablecoins are traded everyday—almost equivalent to the combined daily transaction volume of Visa and Mastercard. Agora is one of the fastest-growing stablecoins in the market seeing $70M in market cap and $15M+ in daily volume across all networks.

"The launch of AUSD on Injective underscores the dominance of USD-backed stablecoins—with 99.7% market share—as an institutional-grade asset for capital formation and movement," stated Nick van Eck, CEO and Co-Founder of Agora. "Injective's ecosystem has processed more than $40B in volume across USD-denominated stablecoins since launch. Given their milestone of over 1 billion on-chain transactions this year and over 500K total active addresses, Injective offers the most robust ecosystem to offer AUSD natively. We've been thoroughly impressed with the Injective team's ability to execute."

AUSD's Reserve Fund is managed by Van Eck, with $100B total assets under management (AUM), and custodied by State Street, with $4.1T total AUM. The assets supporting AUSD include short-dated U.S. treasury bills, cash, and overnight reverse repurchase agreements. AUSD has only launched on the largest L1 blockchains, with its circulating supply growing to over $70M across Ethereum, Avalanche, and Sui since its launch.

Disclaimer: Agora's AUSD is available to non-restricted countries only. Restricted countries include: United States, Afghanistan, Balkans, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burma, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, Cuba, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan & Darfur, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen, Zimbabwe, Russia, or any other country or territory on which the United States imposes sanctions or embargoes goods.. Nothing herein constitutes any offer to sell, or any solicitation of an offer to buy, AUSD. Acquiring AUSD involves risks. A AUSD holder may incur losses, including total loss of their purchase price. Past performance is not an indication of future results. As always, you should do your own research on how a particular product or application functions. This communication is intended for informational purposes only and is not, and should not be relied on, as financial or investment advice; an offer to buy or sell any product; or an endorsement of any product.

About Injective
Injective is the interoperable layer one (L1) blockchain operating at the intersection of DeFi and TradFi. Its ecosystem offers a full suite of products for developers and end-users, including institutional grade assets backed by the world's most stable financial instruments as well as powerful plug-and-play modules to create advanced Web3 finance applications. As the premier decentralized partner for institutions, Injective is a top L1 based on protocol value and has facilitated over 1 billion transactions onchain. Injective is incubated by Binance and is backed by prominent investors such as Jump Crypto, Pantera and Mark Cuban.

About Agora
Agora is a stablecoin startup co-founded by Nick van Eck, Drake Evans, and Joe McGrady. It offers a stablecoin for users outside of the U.S. and will be pegged to the dollar. The stablecoin, AUSD, is backed by US Treasury bills and overnight repurchase agreements. The firm emphasizes transparency and trust and will be overseen by Van Eck, which will manage a fund for Agora's reserves.

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SOURCE Injective Labs