Agora, co-founded by Nick Van Eck, Drake Evans, and Joe McGrady, has raised $12 million in a seed funding round led by Dragonfly, with contributions from General Catalyst, Wintermute Ventures, and Breed among others. This funding will support the launch of AUSD, a fully collateralized, tradeable USD digital dollar aimed at revolutionizing payments and asset infrastructure on blockchain-based rails. Agora's initiative is poised to enhance the stablecoin market, which already boasts over $150bn of stablecoins outstanding and approximately $2.8tn in transactions. The company's vision is to create a stablecoin that offers high credibility, safety, flexible trading, and seamless integration with traditional financial scenarios, aiming to become the most liquid dollar asset available.