Comparison · 2026 edition
Agora (AUSD) vs Tether (USDT): stablecoin issuers compared 2026.
Agora (AUSD) and Tether (USDT) side by side in the Stablecoin Issuers Index 2026: scores, evidence, published facts and awards.
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Agora (AUSD) and Tether (USDT) side by side in the Stablecoin Issuers Index 2026: scores, evidence, published facts and awards.
In the Stablecoin Issuers Index, Tether (USDT) scores higher overall: 3.5 out of 5 (71 out of 100) against 3.3 (66), ranking 3 and 4 of 11. Tether (USDT) also scores higher in every segment.
Overall and segment scores out of 100, and the score out of 5.
| Score | Agora (AUSD) | Tether (USDT) |
|---|---|---|
| Score out of 5 | 3.3 | 3.5 |
| Score out of 100 | 66 | 71 |
| Overall rank | 4 of 11 | 3 of 11 |
| For payment and e-money firms (out of 100) | 65, rank 5 | 73, rank 3 |
| For exchanges and brokers (out of 100) | 68, rank 4 | 73, rank 2 |
| For corporate treasuries (out of 100) | 66, rank 5 | 68, rank 3 |
| Type | Dollar stablecoin issuer | Dollar stablecoin issuer |
Each score with the evidence behind it.
| Criterion | Agora (AUSD) | Tether (USDT) |
|---|---|---|
| Reserves | 3/5 Monthly management reports on reserve holdings; custodians not named. | 2/5 Quarterly reserve reports; reserves include gold and secured loans as well as Treasuries. |
| Independent assurance | 4/5 Monthly attestations by Grant Thornton LLP. | 4/5 Quarterly attestations by BDO and an audit of 2025 financial statements by KPMG. |
| Regulatory standing | 3/5 Bermuda Class F licence; US charter at preliminary conditional approval only. | 3/5 One issuer authorisation, in El Salvador; no licence number on the pages read. |
| Redemption | 3/5 Direct minting and redemption by API; no timing or minimum. | 4/5 Direct redemption for verified accounts with a published $100,000 minimum; timing stated only as several days for some withdrawals. |
| Published fees | 3/5 No minting or redemption fees stated on the homepage rather than a fee page. | 5/5 Full mint, redemption and verification fees published. |
| Currencies and networks | 4/5 Ten networks and one currency. | 4/5 14 named networks; one active fiat currency. |
Each criterion is scored 0 to 5 against the best published offer in the Stablecoin Issuers Index. 0 means not offered or not published. How it is scored
What each provider publishes on its own pages, read on 26 October 2026.
| Fact | Agora (AUSD) | Tether (USDT) |
|---|---|---|
| Reserves | Agora publishes "monthly management reports on AUSD reserves" on dollar and reserve asset holdings, from July 2024. Custodians not named on the pages read. | Transparency page: tokens "backed 100% by Tether's Reserves"; circulation "typically published daily". Q2 2026 report: reserves "centered on short-duration, high-quality liquid assets", reserves exceeded liabilities by about $4.11 billion, secured lending exposure reduced by about $2.38 billion, gold holdings above 146 tons. |
| Independent assurance | "Monthly reports of Agora's reserves provided by third-party accounting firm, Grant Thornton LLP and prepared according to attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants"; reports listed January to August 2026. | Q2 2026 attestation "prepared by BDO, a top-five global independent accounting firm" (published 31 July 2026). 13 August 2026: "KPMG U.S. issues unqualified audit opinion on Tether's 2025 financial statements." |
| Regulatory standing | "AUSD is issued by Agora Bermuda Limited which is regulated and licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority", holding "a Class F license to issue, sell or redeem virtual coins". Homepage: "Agora received preliminary conditional approval from the OCC." | Terms: "Tether has obtained authorisation as a Stablecoin Issuer and Digital Assets Service Provider under the El Salvador Regulations for Issuance of Stablecoin Public Offerings", supervised by the National Commission of Digital Assets. Issuer: Tether International, S.A. de C.V. |
| Redemption | "Programmatically mint, redeem, and transfer stablecoins" through Agora's API. No redemption time or minimum published. | Fees page: "Minimum Tether Token acquisition or redemption amount 100,000 USD". Verified accounts only; Tether "maintains the sole discretion to approve or not approve accounts". "Withdrawal requests for digital tokens held by Tether are evaluated per request and can take several days to process." |
| Published fees | Homepage: "Move between AUSD and currencies with no minting or redemption fees." No fee page. | Fees page: redemption fee "The greater of $1,000 or 0.1%"; acquisition fee "0.1%"; verification fee "150 USD in Tether Tokens", non-refundable. |
| Currencies and networks | Mainnet deployments: Arbitrum, Avalanche C-chain, Base, Ethereum, Immutable, Katana, Mantle, Monad, Polygon PoS and Solana. One currency: US dollar. | Supported protocols page lists Ethereum, Avalanche, BNB Smart Chain, Cosmos (via Kava), Celo, Kaia, Tron, Liquid, Solana, Polkadot AssetHub, Tezos, Near, Ton and Aptos. Redemption of CNH₮ ends 20 February 2027; EUR₮ wound down. |
| Date read | 26 October 2026 | 26 October 2026 |
Not published or not stated by Agora (AUSD): reserves, redemption and published fees.
Not published or not stated by Tether (USDT): nothing in this profile is marked as not published or not stated.
Facts read on 26 October 2026 from: agora.finance, docs.agora.finance/developer/transparency, docs.agora.finance/developer/…; and tether.to/en/transparency, tether.to/en/fees, tether.to/en/legal, tether.to/en/supported-protocols, tether.io/news/…, tether.io/news/….
Awards follow from the published scores and cannot be bought.
No award in this index.
From each provider's strongest criteria and published terms.
Fintechs and platforms wanting fee-free minting and a share of reserve income.
Exchanges and large traders needing the most widely held dollar stablecoin.
Tell us what you need and where you operate.