Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's statement once again brings the focus back to the core value of the industry — he recently pointed out in an Ethereum community AMA event: “Low-cost stablecoin transactions are still one of the most important sources of large-scale value in cryptocurrency. It addresses the urgent need for countless users around the world for 'safe and cheap transfers,' which is more solid than any short-term speculation concept.” This statement not only anchors the direction for industry development but also prompts the market to reassess the foundational role of stablecoins in the crypto ecosystem.
Vitalik's viewpoint is not unfounded but is based on the real market demand for stablecoin trading. Today, the scale of stablecoin transfers completed through the crypto network globally exceeds $10 billion daily, with a large number of transactions coming from emerging markets—such as Filipino workers remitting money back home using USDT through the Ethereum network, with fees only needing $1-2 and transfer times just a few minutes, far lower than traditional banks' 10%-15% fees and 3-5 days settlement period; for example, African cross-border traders settle small orders with DAI without relying on the SWIFT system, nor do they bear the risk of exchange rate fluctuations. Vitalik particularly emphasized: 'Many people think the value of cryptocurrency lies in its 'explosive growth', but for real users, being able to transfer money to the other side of the planet for a few cents and in a few minutes is why they cannot live without the crypto network, and stablecoins are the core tool to meet this demand.'
What is even more noteworthy is that in this sharing, Vitalik took the initiative to mention the new member of Ethereum L2, Codex, stating that he is 'pleased with Codex joining the ecosystem', and he particularly affirmed its development approach of 'valuing cooperation with Ethereum L1 from the start'. It is worth noting that Vitalik has previously emphasized multiple times that 'L2 cannot develop independently from L1', and Codex's design just fits this idea—according to public information, Codex adopts Optimium Rollup technology, and all transaction data will ultimately be on-chain with Ethereum L1, ensuring consistency with L1's security; at the same time, Codex also supports direct invocation of DeFi protocols on Ethereum L1, for example, users holding USDC on Codex can directly participate in lending on Aave V3 without cross-chain operations, this kind of 'seamless cooperation' is precisely the ecological integration model that Vitalik advocates.
In fact, since the launch of the testnet at the beginning of this year, Codex has attracted a lot of attention due to its characteristics of 'low cost + high synergy'. Data shows that the stablecoin transfer fee during Codex's testnet phase was as low as only $0.02, with TPS (transactions per second) reaching over 3000, far exceeding Ethereum L1's 15-30 TPS; in the synergy tests with L1, the interaction success rate between Codex and leading protocols such as Uniswap V3 and Curve reached 99.8%, and the asset settlement time across L1-L2 was reduced to within 10 minutes. Vitalik commented on this: 'A good L2 is not about starting from scratch, but rather making the advantages of Ethereum more prominent. Codex values cooperation with L1, which essentially amplifies the network effect of the Ethereum ecosystem, which is more meaningful than simply pursuing 'high TPS.'
From an industry perspective, Vitalik's statement also sets a 'value standard' for the current chaotic L2 landscape. Recently, many L2 projects have fallen into a 'TPS competition', even sacrificing security synergy with L1 for the sake of speed, but market feedback has been less than satisfactory—one L2 that claimed '100,000 TPS' encountered two security vulnerabilities after going live due to its independent security mechanism, resulting in user asset losses exceeding one million dollars; in contrast, projects like Codex that focus on synergy with L1, while lacking exaggerated performance claims, have attracted over 20,000 developers during the testnet phase due to their features of 'security with a safety net and seamless interaction', with 60% coming from the Ethereum L1 ecosystem, forming a natural ecological migration.
For ordinary users, the 'low-cost trading of stablecoins' and 'L2-L1 synergy' emphasized by Vitalik are actually directly related to their user experience. For example, in the future on Codex, users can transfer USDT not only with low fees but can also directly participate in staking, mining, and other activities on Ethereum L1 without switching between multiple platforms; for developers, when developing stablecoin-related applications based on Codex, they can directly reuse the code and user base of Ethereum L1, greatly reducing development costs. As Vitalik said: 'The value of cryptocurrency ultimately falls on being usable and easy to use; stablecoin trading is like this, and so is the L2 ecosystem.'
Now, as L2 projects like Codex that emphasize synergy gradually come to fruition, the Ethereum ecosystem is forming a virtuous cycle of 'L1 ensuring security and L2 optimizing experience', while stablecoins, as the core tool connecting users and the ecosystem, will further amplify the value of low-cost trading. Perhaps just as Vitalik hopes, in the future, cryptocurrency will no longer be synonymous with 'speculative trading', but will truly enter the lives of more ordinary people through 'secure and cheap transfers'—this is the 'ballast' for the industry's long-term development.
