What is the Codefi Blockchain Application Suite?

ConsenSys Codefi launched in September 2019. A year and a half down the road, the Codefi suite comprises nine product modules that work together to power the next evolution of commerce and finance. 

We are driven by a core vision: To lead the convergence of existing and decentralized financial technologies to create more accessible and equitable financial services for everyone, everywhere.

What does this mean?

• For financial institutions and large corporations, Codefi aims to grow usage of decentralized financial technologies with leading fintech infrastructure
• For crypto-enterprises, Codefi aims to operate and enable natively digital businesses
• And for people worldwide, Codefi aims to provide financial access and empowerment

Today, we describe the market and ecosystem trends that have driven these goals and walk through how Codefi’s product suite presents a solution to the challenges of operating within traditional finance, scaling decentralized networks, and widening access to Web3.

Financial Institutions and Large Corporations

2020 was the year when enterprises arguably started crossing the chasm to blockchain-based production software. Now, influential financial institutions use our software stack to explore high-value use cases leveraging digital assets and payments, in addition to business process automation. Institutions have begun to understand the advantages of digitizing closed-end and open-end funds, as well as debt capital market instruments like zero-coupons, fixed-rate, and floating-rate bonds. 

Public infrastructure of the Ethereum mainnet is starting to gather increasing interest, relative to the private permissioned networks, which can be more costly to maintain. The Baseline Protocol initiative is one example of this phenomenon. Work by the DTCC, Standard Chartered Bank, and Societe Generale is already targeting the use of the Ethereum mainnet for live pilots and production applications in 2021. 

To facilitate the adoption of both asset digitization and business process automation, Codefi has developed five institutional product offerings:

Create and manage digital assets with Codefi Assets. Asset managers, private funds, and other financial institutions can overcome traditional finance inefficiencies with end-to-end digital asset management.

Unlock digital asset liquidity with Codefi Markets. Exchanges and tokenization platforms can leverage integrated price information aggregation and OTC trading to enable fast, secure, and optimally structured peer-to-peer transfers.

Optimize business processes with Codefi Workflow. Large corporations can connect data and run business operations digitally across multiple organizations.

Adhere to regulations with Codefi Compliance. Crypto exchanges and Ethereum projects can leverage reliable AML-CFT solutions to protect against fraud and financial crimes.

Accelerate enterprise blockchain solution deployment with Codefi Orchestrate. Enterprises can reduce research and development costs and expedite time-to-market with industry-proven core technical blockchain components.

Meanwhile, custodians and custody technology providers heavily position themselves on providing access to the crypto-native digital asset class (e.g., Ledger, Fireblocks, Unbound, Curv, Anchorage). Many traditional financial distributors see crypto assets generating significant future revenues and alpha for clients going forward.

To address demand from institutions seeking access and exposure to decentralized finance opportunities, MetaMask has partnered with Codefi to deliver its Markets module.

Swap, borrow, lend, invest, and interact with DeFi protocols with MetaMask for Institutions. Cryptocurrency funds, custodians, and professional traders can leverage enterprise-grade security, operational, and reporting features—built into the world’s most trusted Ethereum wallet.

Finally, many central banks are exploring retail or wholesale CBDCs and cross-border payment use cases with the first production deployment early in 2021 (e.g. Bahamas, Cambodia, and China). Most central banks are still working through the early innovation and education stages.

The Reserve Bank of Australia, France’s Societe Generale, the Bank of Thailand, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority have already kicked off explorations with Codefi Payments.

Issue and manage CBDCs and stablecoins with Codefi Payments. Central banks, financial institutions, and corporations can improve wholesale, retail, and cross-border payments with new payment infrastructure.

With our institutional offerings, we expect to grow the usage of decentralized financial technologies across asset management, wealth management, capital markets, global trade, and digital commerce.

And for Enterprise Developers

To help provide companies and projects the necessary flexibility to deploy our solutions, we make API-based versions of our products available to blockchain developers.

Ethereum Projects and Crypto-Native Enterprises

Today there are over US$40 billion locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. Dozens of protocols have successfully built out the functionalities of traditional finance within the smart contract-based crypto ecosystem, so that users worldwide can swap, borrow, lend, invest, and interact with digital assets and currencies. To do this well, Ethereum projects need natively digital infrastructure, scaling solutions, and governance mechanisms that support growth and sustainable operations.

Codefi Activate has already helped facilitate SKALE’s token sale, deploy the Eth2 deposit launchpad, build Filecoin’s storage platform and DeFi bridge, and manage AirSwap’s new governance model.

Launch and scale decentralized networks with Codefi Activate. Decentralized networks can build high-performing networks with active and well-educated token holder communities.

The growing activity on Ethereum 2.0 is another story. Since the launch of the Beacon Chain on 01 December 2020, thousands of validators have staked billions of dollars to secure the Ethereum 2.0 network. Exchanges, custodians, and financial institutions have recognized the opportunity to earn a yield on their ETH positions while contributing to network robustness. 

Early participants have earned 9.9% APY when deploying Codefi Staking software.

Earn rewards on Ethereum 2.0 with Codefi Staking. Institutions can capitalize on the revenue opportunity of Ethereum 2.0 without the technical and operational complexities of running an independent validator.

With these services, we hope to effectively scale Ethereum projects and work towards the success of Ethereum 2.0.

Individual Users

While the fields of asset management, payment infrastructure, business process automation, and blockchain development as a whole have seen significant advancements—it seems both inequitable and absurd that basic financial access and empowerment continue to elude 1.7 billion people on the planet. We are changing this by powering decentralized networks and applications to enable everyone to use DeFi to trade, borrow, invest, and save.

Codefi Markets powers MetaMask Swaps, a feature that aggregates the best pricing data from across the DeFi ecosystem while facilitating efficient peer-to-peer trades in the world’s most popular Ethereum wallet. With MetaMask Swaps, consumers retain control of their assets throughout the asset lifecycle.

Codefi Activate helps grow decentralized networks and empowers users to earn rewards for participation in network governance and utility. Through Activate, consumers can stake SKL and scale the Ethereum network, turn FIL into renFIL, and stake AST and vote on AirSwap governance.

Lastly, through Codefi Data, DeFi users can examine DeFi protocol risk and compare yield opportunities across lending platforms to make informed financial decisions.

Evaluate DeFi protocol security and digital asset performance with Codefi Data. Users can assess DeFi protocol security and digital asset performance with comprehensive data and risk analytics.

With these tools, we hope to enable people worldwide to access decentralized financial services with the reliability, ease, and security of centralized services.

Powering the Next Evolution of Commerce and Finance

ConsenSys Codefi works with financial institutions, global enterprises, and Ethereum projects to digitize assets and financial instruments, launch decentralized networks, optimize business processes, and deploy production-ready blockchain solutions.