Stablecoin issuer Agora hires former Robinhood Crypto COO Tanya Denisova as head of operations

Tanya Denisova, the former chief operating officer of Robinhood Crypto, has joined stablecoin issuer Agora as head of operations, according to a Tuesday blog post by Agora's CEO and co-founder Nick van Eck.

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), the firm said.

Denisova spent the last six years at Robinhood, where she served as COO of Robinhood Crypto. CoinDesk first reported her departure from the brokerage's cryptocurrency unit in May.

She led Robinhood Crypto's day-to-day operations across its regulated U.S. and European entities, overseeing settlement, liquidity, trading, execution quality, custody and wallet operations.

Agora is a stablecoin infrastructure company that issues AUSD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by reserves managed by institutional asset managers. The company aims to provide businesses with a way to move dollars globally, earn yield on idle balances and access programmable payments infrastructure through blockchain networks.

Founded by Nick van Eck and Drake Evans, the firm is focused on building regulated stablecoin products for fintechs, exchanges and other financial institutions.

Agora said Denisova's experience scaling regulated crypto operations will be critical as the company expands. According to the company, AUSD processed more than $20 billion in transfer volume during the first quarter of 2026, a 355% increase from a year earlier.

"When Tanya joined there were three people on the Robinhood Crypto operations team," van Eck wrote. "Over her tenure they scaled operations to a multi-billion dollar business unit that spanned settlement, liquidity, trading, execution quality, and custody across regulated U.S. and EU entities."

Agora said its rapid growth is increasing operational demands as it broadens its product offerings and regulatory footprint.

Read more: Robinhood Crypto COO Tanya Denisova is leaving company amid revenue slowdown

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

Disclosure & Polices : CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies . CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of Bullish (NYSE:BLSH), an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. Bullish owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets and CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish equity-based compensation.

新闻图片