Stablecoin issuer Agora has appointed Tanya Denisova as head of operations, according to a Tuesday blog post by CEO and co-founder Nick van Eck. Denisova previously served as chief operating officer of Robinhood Crypto for the past six years, where she led day-to-day operations across regulated U.S. and European entities. Her responsibilities included overseeing settlement, liquidity, trading, execution quality, custody and wallet operations across these jurisdictions.
In her new position at Agora, Denisova will oversee operations as the company scales its rapidly growing AUSD stablecoin business. She will also serve as COO of Agora's proposed National Trust Bank, subject to approval of the company's national trust charter application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). According to van Eck, Denisova's experience scaling regulated crypto operations will be critical as Agora expands its product offerings and regulatory licenses.
Agora reported that AUSD processed more than $20 billion in transfer volume during Q1 2026, representing a 355% increase from the previous year. The company, founded by Nick van Eck and Drake Evans, focuses on building regulated stablecoin products for fintechs, exchanges and other financial institutions. Agora issues AUSD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by reserves managed by institutional asset managers, designed to provide businesses with global dollar movement capabilities, yield on idle balances, and programmable payments infrastructure through blockchain networks.
The appointment comes as Agora experiences rapid growth that is increasing operational demands as the company broadens its product offerings and regulatory footprint. According to van Eck, when Denisova joined Robinhood Crypto, there were only three people on the operations team, which she scaled to a multi-billion dollar business unit spanning settlement, liquidity, trading, execution quality, and custody across regulated U.S. and EU entities.
