The Stablecoin Chain Wars: Codex’s Bet on On-Chain FX

The Stablecoin Chain Wars: Codex’s Bet on On-Chain FX | Cofounder Haonan Li – Bankless

Mentioned

Bullish

CODEX— Codex is positioned to capture significant value in the stablecoin chain market by focusing on wholesale FX flows rather than just payment throughput, as most cross-border transactions involve an FX component and Codex aims to be the cheapest venue for these transactions.
EXOTICFX— Exotic currency pairs represent an underserved market opportunity in the stablecoin ecosystem, particularly for developing country currencies where demand for stablecoin solutions is high.
ETH— Ethereum maintains dominance as the primary stablecoin settlement layer with approximately 60% of all stablecoins on its network, positioning it to benefit from growing stablecoin adoption.

Bearish

LAYERTWO— General-purpose Layer 2s are parasitic to Ethereum's Layer 1, splitting the user base without providing meaningful differentiation, making them value-destructive compared to specialized L2s.
BEARCHAIN— Chains following the 'bearchain playbook' of token incentives attract mercenary capital that farms and dumps tokens, creating unsustainable death spirals as seen with chains like Bear and Blast.
TEMPO— Tempo faces neutrality concerns as competing fintechs are unlikely to build on Stripe's infrastructure, limiting its potential despite being acknowledged as a competitive threat.
USD— The traditional role of USD as an intermediary currency is breaking down as on-chain markets enable direct currency swaps, representing a radical restructuring of global commerce and markets.

Not investment advice.