Fintech Takes

Not Fintech Investment Advice: Ubyx, Codex, Agent AV, & Experian

Apr 16, 2025

Dive into the world of fintech as the hosts discuss Ubyx's ambitious vision for stablecoins, aiming for mass adoption like Visa. Codex is making waves with its specialized blockchain for stablecoin payments, promising to streamline liquidity. Meanwhile, Agent AV emerges as a game changer in e-commerce, allowing AI bots to shop for us, raising questions about good versus bad bots. Finally, insights on Experian's innovative cash flow score reveal shifts in credit scoring and financial inclusion, paving the way for a new era in finance.

54:48

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Ubyx is innovating the stablecoin landscape by creating a standardized network that facilitates stablecoin redemption as cash equivalents, promoting institutional adoption.

Experian's introduction of a cash flow score marks a significant shift in evaluating creditworthiness, utilizing transactional data to enhance financial inclusion.

Deep dives

Stablecoin Innovations

A notable discussion centers on the innovations within the stablecoin sector, particularly the company UBYX, which aims to create a comprehensive network for stablecoin transactions akin to Visa. This network will facilitate the redemption of stablecoins for cash equivalents, thus treating them as cash assets within accounting frameworks. Such a model addresses previous hesitations about stablecoin adoption by simplifying the regulatory compliance burdens that have traditionally deterred institutional involvement in these currencies. The introduction of standardized redemption processes is also pivotal, as it could parallel the efficiencies seen in traditional financial processes.

Intro

4min

Exploring UBYX: The Network for Stablecoins and Its Implications

6min

Navigating the Landscape of Stablecoins

21min

The Future of Traditional Assets in an On-Chain Economy

3min

Navigating AI Agent Transactions

11min

Innovations in Credit Scoring

10min

Welcome back to Not Fintech Investment Advice, where Simon Taylor and I talk about fintech companies that we're definitely not giving investment advice on! The theme of this episode is infrastructure galore.

We kick things off with Ubyx, who are essentially building the Visa for stablecoins–a network of merchants, issuers, and acquirers with a standardized incentive and legal structure that could help stablecoins finally qualify as cash equivalents. We’re not yet at the Visa moment of mass merchant adoption and real interoperability pain (all pain points are still mostly theoretical), but Ubyx is betting that moment’s coming fast. They’re one to watch, especially if you love good nerdy whitepaper...

Next up, Codex. They recently raised a seed round (with participation from Coinbase and Circle, among others) to build a layer 2 blockchain network specifically for stablecoins. Codex wants to be the sleek payments rail for stablecoins, and while “just another blockchain” fatigue is real, there’s logic in going vertical. They’re also pitching themselves as a liquidity hub, which, if it works, could be a major edge in reducing fragmentation.

Then, there’s Agent AV, which is basically Shopify for AI agents. They’re tackling the wild west of agentic commerce, where bots now shop on our behalf. E-commerce was built to keep bots out—but now, humans are deploying bots on their behalf. The challenge, then, is separating the good bots (authorized agents) from the bad. That’s why a two-sided mode, building for both agents and merchants, makes a lot of sense. It’s early days, but they might be laying rails for a whole new kind of shopping experience.

And finally, the dark horse of the episode: Experian. Yes, that Experian. They just launched a new cashflow-based credit score and, in a twist, are skipping the bottom of the data stack to go full-FICO. In an open banking world, they don’t want to be the bureau—they want to be the scorer.

No end-of-show manifestations on this go-around; Simon already manifested the biggest fintech nerd gathering ever, Fintech NerdCon, so Alex is manifesting an excellent inaugural NerdCon in Miami come November.

00:02:36 - UBYX

00:16:25 - Codex

00:30:05 - Agent AV

00:41:14 - Experian

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Companies featured:

https://www.ubyx.xyz/

https://www.codex.xyz/

https://www.experian.com/