It’s hard to ignore stablecoins these days. They’ve become, perhaps, the most practical thing to come out of the crypto world in a while. And in 2025, that’s really starting to show. Big money is paying attention, moving in. But not everyone’s happy about how it’s all playing out.
Ethereum’s Dominance Faces New Challengers
Right now, Ethereum is the undeniable leader for stablecoins. It’s hosting a massive $153 billion worth of them. Tron’s in a distant second place with about $81 billion. Combined, they control over 80% of the entire market. That’s a pretty strong grip. But it’s a grip that some new players are trying to break.
We’re seeing a wave of new blockchains built specifically for stablecoins. Projects with names like Plasma, Stable, Arc, and Tempo. They’re all aiming to carve out their own piece of the pie. And one of them, Tempo, has really stirred the pot.
The Tempo Controversy Heats Up
Tempo is a new Layer 1 blockchain. It’s being developed by the payments giant Stripe and a big crypto investment fund, Paradigm. The announcement didn’t sit well with a lot of folks in the Ethereum community. The frustration seems to come from a feeling of betrayal. See, Paradigm also funded an Ethereum-focused project called Etherealize. So to then go and build a competing chain? It rubbed people the wrong way.
This is where Haonan Li, the founder of a project called Codex, stepped in. He didn’t hold back. In a pretty fiery post on X, he called all these new chains “attempts to supplant and attack Ethereum.” He’s confident that Ethereum, with help from his own project, will, in his words, “crush these competitors.” That’s a strong stance.
Why Li Believes Ethereum Will Prevail
His argument isn’t just based on loyalty. He points to Ethereum’s long history, its remarkable lack of downtime, and its incredibly deep liquidity. For big financial institutions, those things matter. A lot. He thinks that should make Ethereum the obvious choice for Wall Street.
He also touched on a key bottleneck. Right now, moving real money into a stablecoin is slow. It’s stuck using the old banking system, which means waiting for SWIFT transfers that can take days. Codex, he says, is working to cut that swap time down to almost nothing. That’s the goal, anyway.
His post got a notable co-sign. Ethereum’s own Vitalik Buterin shared it, adding that he was excited to see Codex “thinking explicitly about synergy” with Ethereum from the very beginning.
Codex itself is a relatively new name. It only came out of stealth mode back in April, announcing a $16 million fundraise led by Dragonfly. Other backers include heavyweights like Circle and Coinbase. So it’s got some serious support. This fight for the future of stablecoins is just getting started, and it’s far from over.
