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Mento: Onchain FX Markets - Decentralising World Currencies - Markus Franke

Sep 22, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Markus Franke, CEO of Mento Labs and former economist at Celo, delves into the world of on-chain FX markets. He provides insights into how Mento is revolutionizing currency exchanges with multi-currency stablecoins, enhancing liquidity and providing instant settlements for cross-border transactions. Markus highlights the contrast between traditional finance and decentralized systems, explaining the significance of fixed-price market makers over automated market makers. His vision aims to empower users by easing FX exposure without traditional banking constraints.
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INSIGHT

Why FX Needs On-Chain Infrastructure

  • Traditional FX is massive, slow, fragmented and dollar-centric, causing many pairs to route via USD and settle slowly (T+2).
  • On-chain FX can enable 24/7, near-instant settlement and reduce routing and settlement risk for cross-border flows.
INSIGHT

Oracle-Driven FX Markets

  • Mento uses Oracle-driven fixed-price market makers (FPMMs) to mirror real-world FX rates on-chain instead of relying on AMM price discovery.
  • FPMMs query multiple oracles and let users swap directly at the referenced FX rate when updates exist.
INSIGHT

Single On-Chain Reserve Model

  • Mento's current architecture is a single over-collateralized on-chain reserve backing 15 local currency stablecoins.
  • The reserve holds yield-bearing dollar stablecoins and mints local currency tokens against that collateral.
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