Dragonfly Betting on Codex? A Deep Dive into the Stablecoin Payment Platform Built for Enterprises
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Dragonfly Betting on Codex? A Deep Dive into the Stablecoin Payment Platform Built for Enterprises
Codex is dedicated to building a stablecoin-native cross-border payment infrastructure for enterprises, advancing from "functional" to "user-friendly."
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsWritten by: Scof, ChainCatcher
On April 4, stablecoin company Codex raised $15.8 million in seed funding, led by prominent investor Dragonfly, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute, Selini Capital, and other institutions.
Notably, Codex’s official X account posted its very first message on the same day the funding news was announced—April 4—immediately followed by the announcement of its multi-million dollar financing round, adding a layer of mystery to the startup.
From “Usable” to “User-Friendly”: The Next Step for Stablecoins
In recent years, the stablecoin market has expanded rapidly. Global circulation stood at around $4 billion in 2019 and has now approached $235 billion—an almost 60-fold increase. However, it's important to note that the primary users remain individual holders and crypto traders. Enterprises actively using stablecoins for cross-border operations still represent a minority.
Codex aims to change this. Its goal is not merely to enable enterprises to "use" stablecoins, but to make stablecoins the default method for everyday corporate functions such as cross-border payments, treasury management, and receivables/payables processing—just as natural as today’s bank transfers or SWIFT wire transfers. To achieve this, Codex has chosen the most challenging path: rebuilding stablecoin infrastructure from the ground up, redesigning everything from the base chain and APIs to foreign exchange systems and account frameworks, all centered around enterprise needs.
On the surface, stablecoins already offer features like fund transfers, currency exchange, and wallet integration, making them seemingly "usable." But for enterprises, the current user experience remains fraught with obstacles. Take SMEs in Southeast Asia as an example: businesses wanting to receive USD via stablecoins and pay suppliers face poor cross-chain compatibility, unpredictable settlement times, lack of transparent exchange rate mechanisms, and often cannot integrate with their internal financial systems. Some companies even rely on chat groups and manual processes for reconciliation—inefficient and highly risky.
It’s not that enterprises lack interest in stablecoins; rather, existing tooling simply fails to meet their operational requirements. Ironically, enterprises are precisely the users who need stablecoins most urgently. In emerging markets especially, many businesses grapple with high inflation, local currency depreciation, and expensive cross-border payment fees. Even marginal improvements—such as receiving funds two days earlier or reducing FX costs by a few percentage points—can have a material impact on cash flow.
Codex has identified these real-world pain points as its entry point, striving to move stablecoins from being merely “usable” to truly “user-friendly,” and ultimately embedding them into the core of enterprise financial infrastructure.
What Problems Does Codex Solve?
Codex isn’t building just another “tool”—it’s constructing an entire stablecoin infrastructure stack. Its approach is simple: consolidate the four most common business operations—receiving payments, making payments, currency exchange, and accounting—into a single API interface.
To this end, Codex has developed its own blockchain specifically designed for stablecoin transactions: the Codex Chain. Rather than aiming to be the “most open” or “feature-rich” chain, it’s optimized around three priorities that matter most to enterprises: security, predictability, and processing efficiency. In real-world business scenarios, stability and reliability far outweigh novelty or innovation.
Additionally, Codex offers a full suite of easy-to-integrate APIs, allowing engineering teams to connect existing systems with minimal code, enabling automated stablecoin transfers, settlements, and reconciliations—lowering technical barriers and accelerating adoption. Key capabilities include:
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Fiat-to-stablecoin on-ramping, with funds delivered directly to wallets
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Stablecoin-to-fiat off-ramping, disbursed to bank accounts through local partners
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Even without using stablecoins, direct fiat-to-fiat exchange and payments are supported
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Named virtual accounts (e.g., local IBANs, account numbers) so clients can send money just as they would to a local bank account
This sounds like what banks do—but the difference is that Codex rebuilds all of it on top of stablecoin networks, achieving higher efficiency, faster speeds, and more flexible compliance pathways.
Project Background and Current Status
The founders of Codex come from both the crypto industry and traditional enterprise sectors. CEO Haonan Li was an early member of Optimism in the Ethereum ecosystem, focusing on protocol design and governance mechanisms. Co-founder Victor Yaw comes from a family that operates multiple traditional businesses across Southeast Asia, giving him firsthand insight into the challenges enterprises face with cross-border payments.
According to the project’s official roadmap, Codex has already launched institutional-grade services in the Philippines, with plans to roll out services in Singapore, the UK, Dubai, and Hong Kong in the second quarter.
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