We built Agora with a clear view of what 2026 would look like for stablecoins. Regulated infrastructure would win, institutional adoption would accelerate, and being the metal compounds your MOAT. Since then, we’ve focused on building banking-grade infrastructure that enables enterprises to use stablecoins.
Here’s what Q1 2026 looked like for AUSD, and what I think it tells us about where institutional stablecoin adoption actually stands.
Over $20 billion.
That was AUSD transfer volume in Q1. A year ago the figure was $4 billion over the same time frame.
Three Things This Quarter Showed Us
1. Velocity is the signal.
Transfer velocity is the right signal for real utility and a key part of burgeoning network effects.
In Q1, operators made 10 million transfers in AUSD across onchain financial products, trading, payment settlements, cross-border flows, and onchain credit.
2. New applications driving holder growth.
Dozens of AUSD-based applications and products have launched in the last year driving over 35,000 unique wallets, up approximately 267% from Q1 2025.
Breadth of adoption has become a trust signal and it means the infrastructure is accessible and reliable enough that operators of different sizes are building on it. And it also means the network is less fragile.
3. Operators are integrating AUSD into financial products.
From institutional credit vaults to agentic payment infrastructure, AUSD is being used as the settlement layer for products that require more than a stablecoin. Valos and Accountable settled $113M in institutional credit in AUSD on Monad while Fireblocks built AUSD into their agentic payment suite.
The Bigger Picture
Lifetime AUSD transfer volume is up over 700% year over year. We are also releasing an updated set of APIs, with more to come. We’re going to start updating the frequency of our comms and am looking forward to sharing our growth and partners stories. If you’re an operator looking at stablecoin infrastructure, I’m happy to talk.
Nick van Eck
CEO and Co-Founder
This post contains forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual results due to a variety of factors. Any forward looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of the post. We undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events.
This content is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy AUSD or any other digital asset, security, or financial instrument, nor does it constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. AUSD is not available in all jurisdictions. Agora does not guarantee the value of AUSD on third-party platforms. Past performance is not indicative of future results.