For decades, moving money across African borders has been one of the continent’s most persistent financial problems. But Codex, a blockchain startup founded by Haonan Li, Victor Yaw, and Momo Ong, believes it has found the fix.
The blockchain startup backed by Coinbase and Circle is focusing exclusively on one thing: stablecoins. According to the startup, its goal is to make stablecoin transfers seamless, predictable, and regulation-friendly.
“You see differences in price across exchanges, across countries, across compliance checks,” said Oluwaferanmi Ajetomobi, Codex’s Africa expansion lead. “That lack of singleness is what Codex wants to solve.”
According to the team, that “singleness of money” is the critical gap Codex was built to close.
About Codex
The company emerged from stealth in April 2025 with a $15.8 million seed round led by Dragonfly Capital, and backed by big names including Coinbase, Circle, Cumberland Labs, and Wintermute Ventures.
Codex runs as a Layer 2 blockchain on Optimism, meaning it is built on Ethereum but optimised for speed and lower costs. The chain already supports USDC and USDT, with plans to add Nigeria’s cNGN stablecoin.
Importantly, it has ruled out supporting algorithmic stablecoins, still tainted by the $40 billion collapse of Terra’s UST in 2022. Ajetomobi said the blockchain will not list algorithmic stablecoins.
“We only list fiat-backed stablecoins, and we work closely with issuers to ensure there is real demand,” said Ajetomobi.
Products and Early Partnerships
At the core of Codex’s offering is “Swap Avenue”, a product that lets businesses swap between stablecoins and blockchains instantly.
The startup says a company can keep a single Codex balance and move funds across Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, or Tron in seconds. Fees are charged in USDC, reducing accounting headaches caused by volatile crypto tokens like ETH or SOL.
Codex operates in the global $230 billion stablecoin infrastructure market. Global trading firm Wintermute is already a customer. In Africa, Codex has partnered with Canza Finance and is preparing an integration with Blockradar, a custodial service for fintechs.
By creating predictable liquidity for stablecoins, experts say Codex hopes to become the default settlement layer for African fintechs, remittance providers, and even banks.
As Crypto remittance flows into Africa crossed $100 billion in 2024, with nearly half routed through stablecoins. Yet settlements remain fragmented.
“Moving money from Nigeria to Ghana is trouble. Moving money from Nigeria to a French-speaking country is trouble. Stablecoins are already being used in these corridors, but the settlements are inefficient,” Ajetomobi said.
The Road Ahead
Codex aims to enable instant fiat settlement (T+0), integrate regional stablecoins like the West African CFA franc and Kenyan shilling, and capture a quarter of Africa’s corporate stablecoin flows within a year.
According to Ajetomobi, the blockchain company’s value will be measured by the quality of its clients and the scale of real-world flows on its rails.
“We are not here to attract noise,” he said. “Our goal is to bring in names that matter and to handle huge volumes.”
Industry leaders say if Codex succeeds, it could become the backbone of Africa’s digital payment infrastructure: smoothing remittances, unlocking intra-African trade, and providing a bridge between decentralised finance and traditional banks.
Talking Points
It is striking that Codex has chosen to focus exclusively on stablecoins, avoiding the distractions of multi-token ecosystems and positioning itself as a dedicated solution for cross-border payments.
This single-minded approach directly addresses one of Africa’s most persistent challenges: costly, delayed, and unpredictable money transfers between countries. By betting on stablecoins alone, Codex positions itself as a practical bridge between digital assets and real-world business needs.
At Techparley, we see how Codex’s “Swap Avenue” product could reduce friction for fintechs, remittance providers, and corporates that today juggle multiple blockchains and fragmented settlement rails. Simplifying this into one seamless layer offers significant efficiency gains.
However, challenges remain. Stablecoin adoption across Africa is still uneven, and much will depend on how quickly regulators build supportive frameworks. Businesses used to informal systems may also be hesitant to embrace stricter compliance rails.
As Codex scales, partnerships with African fintechs, banks, and even regional trade bodies could be decisive in anchoring trust and driving adoption. With the right execution, Codex has the potential to become the backbone of Africa’s next-generation payment infrastructure.
