Codex, a brand new blockchain community for stablecoins that secured $16 million earlier this yr from Dragonfly Capital, Coinbase, Circle, and different notable traders, has formally launched its mainnet to assist make digital {dollars} extra sensible for on a regular basis finance.
The community went reside at present, June 24, with native help for USDC, which suggests the stablecoin can transfer throughout Codex without having a cross-chain bridge or wrapper. Per a press launch shared with The Defiant, the aim of Codex is to supply a smoother means for companies and establishments to make use of stablecoins simply as their world capitalization has lately climbed above $250 billion.
Codex co-founder Haonan Li mentioned in an interview with The Defiant that the venture is attempting to resolve what he sees as the actual problem in stablecoin adoption, not blockchain velocity or transaction limits, however the hole between crypto and conventional cash.
“In our view, neither TPS nor latency are actually the bottlenecks for stablecoin adoption at present,” he mentioned. “The true bottlenecks are all on the fiat <> crypto boundary. Blockchain groups traditionally haven’t centered on these boundary issues, they usually don’t have the curiosity or experience to resolve these issues.”
Confidentiality at Scale
To handle this, Codex is engaged on licenses, partnerships with cost ramps, and banking relationships, Li says. The builders plan to roll out options like immediate forex swaps, atomic off-ramps that don’t go away customers’ cash caught because of compliance points, and extra dependable money supply techniques in areas the place current off-ramps are sluggish or untrustworthy.
Codex’s swap platform — referred to as Codex Avenue — already provides trades between stablecoins and fiat, together with giant trades near 1:1 pricing, the crew revealed within the press launch. Extra options, similar to automated compliance checks and risk-free fiat supply utilizing validators held accountable by the community itself, are anticipated by late 2025.
“For this reason Codex shall be the place the stablecoin future will occur, and why we’re proud to work with stablecoin issuers similar to Circle,” Li mentioned.
When requested about on-chain privateness options, Li mentioned Codex is working with high groups in crypto to permit some components of transactions to remain non-public, whereas nonetheless assembly compliance requirements. The chain will use new zero-knowledge and encryption instruments to supply this type of confidentiality at scale. “Extra to share quickly,” he hinted, with out diving into technical particulars.
Whereas Codex launches with USDC, Li confirmed the crew is planning to help all main stablecoins, together with Tether’s USDT and Circle’s euro-backed EURC. “Codex works with all issuers. We imagine the stablecoin chain of the long run should present native entry to all stablecoins,” he instructed The Defiant, although no timeline for these integrations was specified.
Earlier this month, one other stablecoin-focused blockchain, Plasma, noticed overwhelming demand for participation in its $50 million token sale, whereas Circle’s long-awaited IPO was additionally oversubscribed and, it turned out, undervalued — each indicators of sturdy demand for publicity to stablecoins. As of yesterday, Circle’s market cap surpassed the present circulating market cap of USDC itself.
