In brief
- Agora’s terms offer two white-label models: in the Customer-Issued one, the business is the issuer of its own token backed by AUSD; in the Agora-Issued one, the token is AUSD under your brand, and AUSD’s issuer under the terms is Agora Bermuda Limited (the clause also allows Agora’s Related Parties). Neither model’s production use is verified yet.
- We verified Agora Bermuda’s Class F digital asset business licence on the Bermuda Monetary Authority’s register; Agora’s announced US national trust bank has preliminary conditional approval only.
- In neither model do holders of the branded token get a dollar redemption right against Agora unless they become verified Agora customers, and the United States heads Agora’s list of Prohibited States.
Reader question: if I want my own branded stablecoin, what does Agora provide, and who is the issuer of record?
Agora issues AUSD, a dollar stablecoin. Its terms of use, dated 1 September 2026, and its developer docs describe two branded “white-label” stablecoin models with different issuers; we have not verified production use of either. This profile maps who owes what in each. We read both sets of terms in the same PDF and Agora’s developer docs, checked the Bermuda licence on the regulator’s list, and tried the OCC and BVI registers.
What is verified today
- Register-verified: the BMA’s regulated-entities list records Agora Bermuda Limited as a Digital Assets Business, Class F, registration number 202504895, licence effective 5 September 2025, permitted to issue, sell or redeem digital assets (read 25 September 2026).
- Live (third-party data): AUSD itself. CoinGecko reported about 223.7 million AUSD in circulation on 25 September 2026, across chains including Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, Base and Monad.
- Described in current terms and docs; production use not yet verified: both white-label models. We found no named production deployment.
- Conditional, company-reported: Agora reports preliminary conditional OCC approval for a national trust bank, which will operate under OCC oversight “upon receiving final approval”. Our 25 September check of the OCC’s digital-assets licensing applications page did not locate its decision document. The OCC active-bank list available to us is dated 31 August, before the reported approval, and cannot establish anything about it.
Entity and authority
| Entity | Jurisdiction | Status | Role, per the source | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agora Bermuda Limited (segregated accounts company) | Bermuda | Verified, BMA Class F 202504895 | Issuer of AUSD, acting for its Segregated Account; holds Agora’s ownership in the reserves | BMA list; terms of use |
| Agora Blue Limited | British Virgin Islands | Company-reported; not yet verified | Agora Account, Platform, website, minting and redeeming via the Platform, Wallet Services | Terms of use; BVI FSC search blocked (HTTP 403) |
| Proposed Agora national trust bank | United States | Conditional (preliminary) | Not operating; press reports name it Agora National Trust Bank | Agora blog; PYMNTS |
The Bermuda licence belongs to Agora Bermuda only. The parent company and the ownership links between these entities are not yet verified (terms, site footer and OCC blog post checked).
Product scope, availability and eligibility
In the Customer-Issued model, the terms say the token is “distinct from and not interchangeable with AUSD”, developed, issued and controlled by the business “using your own smart contracts”, and “Agora does not issue, control, or manage” it. Agora’s docs describe this as an ERC4626 vault with AUSD as the underlying asset that lets you “issue and control your own token”, with deposit and withdrawal workflows that “maintain a 1:1 conversion rate” with AUSD.
In the Agora-Issued model, the underlying token “is AUSD, which is minted, issued, and redeemed solely by Agora (or its Related Parties)”, the contracts are “owned, deployed, and controlled by Agora or its Related Parties”, and your ticker and brand are “a presentation or interface-level designation only and does not create a distinct digital asset separate from AUSD unless expressly implemented by Agora”. Which Agora entity is your counterparty in a given programme, and any programme-specific variation, is not yet verified.
Services are for entities only. Minting or redeeming AUSD directly requires being “a verified customer of Agora. No exceptions will be made to this provision.” The United States is the first entry on the Prohibited States list, which also names Pakistan, Ukraine and sanctioned jurisdictions. That list governs who may use Agora’s Services, which is what a sponsor needs to open an account and mint. Where a sponsor can contract beyond it, and what restrictions apply to downstream holders of a sponsor’s token, are not yet verified (terms and white-label docs checked).
Who owes what, model by model
Contractual rights and funds-flow model from the terms, not a verified operational trace.
| Question | Customer-Issued | Agora-Issued |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer of the branded token | The sponsor (“you, as the issuer of the white-label stablecoin”) | AUSD under your brand; AUSD’s identified issuer is Agora Bermuda, and the clause also allows Agora’s Related Parties to mint, issue and redeem |
| Who controls the contract | Sponsor; if it opts for an upgradable proxy, it has “complete and total control over the deposited AUSD” | Agora or its Related Parties |
| Extra obligation on Agora | None; holders must be told Agora is “not the issuer or guarantor” | “No new or additional redemption, reserve, peg, or other obligation”; peg attaches to AUSD only |
| Holder’s exit | Back to AUSD only, via the sponsor’s contract; “not redeemable for U.S. dollars from Agora” | Dollar redemption only for holders who become verified Agora customers |
| Sponsor disclosure | Must say the token is not a bank deposit and not FDIC-insured; sponsor indemnifies Agora for claims tied to its white-labelled products | |
For AUSD itself, the risk disclosure says Agora mints and redeems at $1 less any fees. The terms target redemption within 48 business hours, or 96 under stress, allow delay if reserves are illiquid, and let Agora redeem in kind in reserve securities. The terms permit reserves to include cash, short-term Treasuries, overnight reverse repurchase agreements and other dollar assets including USDC; the actual current composition is not established here. The terms also say Agora is never a custodian of AUSD for the customer.
Dependencies
- Reserve manager and custodian: Agora’s docs name VanEck and State Street (company-reported; not confirmed with either firm).
- Attestation: the transparency page lists monthly reserve reports by Grant Thornton LLP under AICPA standards, latest listed July 2026. We did not read the reports.
- Wallets: non-custodial key management from Turnkey Global, Inc., not a party to the terms.
- Banking partners for dollar mint and redemption: not publicly disclosed in the terms, risk disclosure and developer docs checked on 25 September 2026.
Alternatives
Circle and Paxos are the closest comparisons on the question a sponsor has to answer for its holders: who can turn the token back into dollars.
| Agora Bermuda Limited (AUSD) | Circle Internet Financial, LLC and Circle France (USDC) | Paxos Trust Company, NA and others | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who may redeem with the issuer | Verified customers only | Outside the EEA, only holders eligible for and holding a Circle Mint account | “Only Customers may … redeem” |
| Route for non-customers | None stated | EEA retail holders may redeem with Circle France via a form | None found in terms read |
| Entities named per asset | One issuer, Agora Bermuda | Co-issued: Circle France in the EEA, Circle LLC outside | USDP and PYUSD managed by Paxos Trust Company, NA; USDG by Paxos Digital Singapore and Paxos Issuance Europe |
| US charter, by entity | Proposed bank: preliminary conditional approval | Not compared here | Paxos Trust Company, NA: OCC charter 25379, on the active list as of 31 Aug 2026 |
The difference that matters for a sponsor is the white-label wrapper: Agora’s terms state, model by model, that the branded token adds nothing to Agora’s obligations. We found no comparable branded-issuance terms in the Circle and Paxos documents we read, so this table compares redemption access, not white-label programmes.
Limitations and unknowns
- Which Agora entity contracts with a white-label sponsor: not yet verified (both sets of terms and the white-label docs checked).
- Agora Blue’s BVI regulatory status: not yet verified; the BVI FSC search returned a Cloudflare block on 25 September 2026.
- Parent company and ownership links: not yet verified (terms, site footer, OCC blog post checked).
- Current reserve composition and attestation scope: not yet verified; report list seen, reports not read.
- White-label pricing: not publicly disclosed in the terms, homepage and white-label docs checked. The homepage advertises zero mint and redeem fees; the terms point to a fee schedule that may change “with or without prior notice”.
- OCC decision document and conditions: not yet verified.
- Production white-label deployments: not yet verified. Agora’s homepage transfer-volume totals are undefined, so we do not use them.
Key facts (as of 25 September 2026)
- Issuer of AUSD: Agora Bermuda Limited, BMA Class F 202504895 (verified).
- Platform and wallets: Agora Blue Limited, BVI (company-reported).
- AUSD in circulation: about 223.7 million (CoinGecko, 25 Sep 2026).
- US trust bank: preliminary conditional approval, announced 21 September 2026.
- Redemption target: 48 business hours, 96 under stress; in-kind redemption reserved.
Sources
- Bermuda Monetary Authority, regulated entities list: bma.bm/regulated-entities (read 25 Sep 2026)
- OCC: digital-assets licensing applications; active trust banks as of 31 Aug 2026
- Agora documentation: Terms of Use (Bermuda and Blue, as of 1 Sep 2026); Risk Disclosure; white-label docs; transparency page; OCC approval post, 21 Sep 2026
- Comparison cells: Circle USDC Terms, Circle MiCA redemption policy, Paxos stablecoin terms
- Data: CoinGecko, AUSD (25 Sep 2026)
- PYMNTS, OCC opens three bank doors, 20 Sep 2026
Last updated: 25 September 2026. Next recheck triggered by: OCC final approval or opening of Agora’s trust bank, any move of AUSD issuance away from Agora Bermuda, a change to BMA entry 202504895, or a new version of the terms.
