Governments have spent decades trying to trade directly between local currencies without touching the dollar.

None have succeeded.

That may be changing. On a recent episode of Stabled Up, Haonan Li, co-founder of Codex, the Ethereum L2 positioning itself as the native chain for all stablecoins, laid out a roadmap that could fundamentally reshape the $8 trillion-a-day FX market through onchain payments. The core thesis: the future of FX is onchain, multi-currency, and increasingly dollar-free.

"Governments have always wanted to trade directly between their local currencies without going through the dollar. It has literally never happened at scale," Li said. "What we are beginning to see in the wild is people doing these transactions directly onchain without the dollar. The flows are still small, but it is a radical reshaping of global commerce."

Why This Matters for Global Finance

While the vast majority of stablecoin volume today remains USD-denominated (USDT, USDC, PYUSD), Li revealed that Codex is already observing the earliest flows of direct local-currency stablecoin swaps that completely bypass the U.S. dollar. This is something central banks and governments have dreamed about for decades but have never achieved in traditional finance.

The implications are significant:

• De-dollarization becomes technically feasible. Malaysia-to-Singapore trade settled in MYR-stable to SGD-stable with no USD touchpoint is now observable in small but growing size.
• Capital flight concerns get sidestepped. Onchain direct swaps let users flee a local fiat into a local-currency stablecoin instead of USD, reducing the political friction that has slowed non-USD stablecoin rollouts.
• Institutional DeFi gets a realistic on-ramp. Most corporate treasuries and banks won't touch hot wallets and self-custody. Codex aims to solve the last-mile banking and licensing problem that has kept nine-figure flows stuck in TradFi rails.

Who's Building This

Founded in 2024, Codex has quickly gained traction in the stablecoin ecosystem. In April 2025, the project raised $16 million in a seed round led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, Wintermute, and Bybit.

As one of the youngest chains to integrate USDC natively, launching with direct minting and redemption from Circle on day zero of mainnet in September 2025, Codex eliminates bridging risks and enables seamless, low-cost transfers anchored to Ethereum's security. This native USDC support, combined with gas fees payable in stablecoins like USDC or USDT, positions Codex as purpose-built infrastructure for stablecoin payments and onchain FX.

A Neutral Home for All Stablecoins

Codex is deliberately positioning itself as the Switzerland of stablecoin chains: an Ethereum L2 (OP Stack) with no competing issuer or PSP.

They're explicitly welcoming:

USDC, USDT, PYUSD (USD-pegged majors)EURC and other fiat-pegged stablecoinsRegional stablecoins like TRYB (Turkish Lira)Future non-USD issuances from emerging markets

"We are not a fintech. We are not an issuer. We will never compete with you. If you want a truly neutral place to build, we are the best place."

Li also took a subtle shot at single-issuer chains: "It's perhaps not wise to bet the stablecoin landscape in 2035 will look exactly like it does today. Non-dollar stablecoins will become far more prominent."

How They're Executing

Codex Avenue: Attacking the Fiat-Crypto Barrier

The vehicle for this shift is Codex Avenue, an institutional-grade on/off-ramp and onchain FX product launching soon. Li claims it will make moving $10 million+ of local fiat into (or between) stablecoins dramatically cheaper and faster than today's banking rails.

Unlike almost every other layer-1 or layer-2 team, Codex is deliberately staffing up with banking, licensing, compliance, and institutional BD talent.

This is the unsexy work that most crypto-native teams avoid.

"Nobody wants to touch fiat. Three years ago it was ideological. We're crypto people, why would we deal with fiat? Today it's just painful and slow," Li noted. "But that friction between fiat and stablecoins is the real bottleneck. Gas fees when moving $10 million? Nobody cares if it's 5 cents or 10 cents. The problem is getting the fiat in and out efficiently."

Incremental Unbundling of the FX Market

Rather than trying to boil the ocean by attacking the ultra-liquid G10 pairs (EUR/USD, USD/JPY), Codex is starting with the long-tail: emerging-market and frontier currency pairs that are expensive, slow, and illiquid in traditional FX.

Li describes the strategy as "incrementally unbundling the FX market one currency pair at a time," beginning with corridors that are poorly served by prime brokers and correspondent banking networks.

"If you create the path of least resistance, the river will flow."

This strategy is already materializing:

Turkey: Codex integrated TRYB, the Turkish Lira stablecoin from BiLira, enabling seamless onchain conversions and paymentsPhilippines: A collaboration with PDAX facilitates stablecoin-based remittances, making cross-border flows faster and more cost-efficient for overseas workersEurope: EURC and other non-USD stablecoins are planned for deeper integration

Timeline

Li confirmed the onchain FX product is the top priority for Q4 2025 / Q1 2026, with mainnet already live and institutional pilots underway.

If even a fraction of the emerging-market FX long-tail migrates onchain in the next 24 months, Codex could become the default settlement layer for the next generation of multi-currency stablecoin commerce, and the first credible threat to the dollar's 60-year stranglehold on cross-border payments.

The stablecoin super-cycle may have been dollar-dominated so far.

The next phase, according to Codex, will be anything but.

What to Watch

• Codex Avenue launch timing. The institutional on/off-ramp product is the linchpin. Until fiat-to-stablecoin friction is solved at scale, onchain FX remains a niche play.
• Non-USD stablecoin volume. The thesis hinges on local-currency stablecoins gaining traction. Track EURC, TRYB, and emerging-market issuances for early signals.
• Corridor-specific flows. Li mentioned Malaysia-Singapore as an early corridor. Watch for data on specific trade routes bypassing USD settlement.
• Regulatory developments. Central bank attitudes toward onchain FX will determine whether this remains permissionless infrastructure or gets absorbed into regulated rails.

Learn More:
https://www.codex.xyz/