To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't say Code was effective at halting the CG. I think they made it interesting, but only as a side note. That's not a knock on Code, but the reason the CG didn't hit the goal was that it was too far and most players don't have time to do that, and if they do don't want to spend that time staring at supercruise for the ability to do it again for some "mug". I was out there, nary a piece of scrap, just to watch the fireworks. I'm sure there were plenty out there just because Code was out there, so the CG became more of an event because of Code, not less of an event because of Code.
I'd venture a bet that, had Code not gotten involved, it would have fizzled out with a few hard core grinders huffing and puffing away.