Coinbax wins $20,000 PitchFest prize at Consensus Miami for stablecoin compliance

MIAMI – Coinbax won the $20,000 grand prize at Consensus Miami’s PitchFest after pitching a system designed to help banks and financial firms manage compliance for stablecoin payments.

The company, founded by former Jack Henry executive Peter Glyman, builds programmable escrow infrastructure that adds controls to wallet-to-wallet crypto transactions. The software is meant to reduce the risks financial institutions face when moving funds onchain.

“Banks want to use stablecoins for payments, but they need to get their compliance people comfortable with the idea of moving money onchain,” Glyman said during his presentation.

He described a future where “wallet addresses [are] associated with every bank account,” with transactions moving between banks, fintech firms and self-custody wallets. In that environment, he argued, compliance checks need to happen directly onchain rather than only through traditional banking intermediaries.

Coinbax uses smart contracts to hold funds in escrow while third-party services verify identity, sanctions screening and transaction risk. Funds settle only after conditions are met.

“We provide a trust layer,” Glyman said. “We provide programmable escrow that adds the control layer to these payments.”

The startup launched in October, closed a seed round in December and is already live on Base mainnet, according to Glyman. He said the company is working with banks, custody firms and wallet providers on pilot programs.

Second place went to Tashi, a decentralized infrastructure project focused on coordinating and managing AI systems across distributed networks.