Celo is joining Superchain Ecosystem, after completing its move from a Layer 1 to an Ethereum Layer 2 using the OP Stack. This transition brings Celo’s active user base, real-world stablecoin use, and public goods infrastructure into closer alignment with Ethereum
Tonight at 8 PM Pacific Time, Celo will officially complete its transition from a standalone Layer 1 blockchain to an Ethereum Layer 2 powered by the OP Stack and join the Superchain Ecosystem.
Celo is a stablecoin and real-world adoption powerhouse with over 1.2M monthly active users, primarily in emerging markets such as Africa and Latam. It also houses an extensive public goods and impact innovation ecosystem, including category-defining projects such as Mento and GoodDollar.
Launched on Earth Day in 2020, Celo quickly became recognized for its mobile-first approach and commitment to global financial inclusion. Over the past four years, the network processed over 700 million transactions and hosted more than 1,000 projects across 150 countries.
In July 2023, the technical team behind the Celo Blockchain, cLabs, introduced the proposal to migrate Celo to Ethereum L2 using Optimism’s OP Stack to benefit from:
Following eight months of testing and community discussions, the proposal was unanimously approved. Significant engineering efforts followed, involving a complete rewrite of Celo’s client software based on the OP Stack and EigenDA, ensuring compatibility and preserving existing features. Through these efforts, Celo can hard-fork from their L1 network to their new L2 with little to no friction for users and operators. Marek, the CEO of cLabs presented the transition plans and learnings at Superchain Space Denver (view here).
In short, key improvements include:
Celo’s vision is to scale Ethereum with real-world solutions, leading a thriving new digital economy for all. Celo has incubated various category-defining applications, including GoodDollar, one of the largest UBI protocols, Mento, and MiniPay.
Mento is a leading stablecoin that aims to provide a stable asset for every country and create a new, accessible future for digital currencies. To date, Mento has launched 8 stablecoins including cREAL (Brasil), cKES (Kenya), cCOP (Colombia), and PUSO (Philippines). Across these assets, Mento has nearly USD 30M worth of stablecoins outstanding.
Through Celo’s deep integration with wallets and on/off ramps - users in these countries can seamlessly use Mento stablecoins for local payments, saving, and other financial services.
MiniPay is a stablecoin wallet developed by Opera, the most used web browser in Africa, designed to provide users with seamless access to Stablecoin payments. It allows for instant peer-to-peer transactions with sub-cent fees, requiring only a phone number for wallet activation. Within six months of its launch in September 2023, MiniPay surpassed 2 million, wallet activations across Africa, now MiniPay has over 5M app opens each week, making it one of the most used blockchain-powered solutions.
MiniPay also hosts an ecosystem of in-app applications that provide users with a wide range of use cases, from buying phone credit to taking out loans.
These projects have played a pivotal role in developing Celo into the robust and user-friendly ecosystem it is today.
Celo is known for pushing technical boundaries: it was one of the first chains to include staking and has operated an onchain community governance and treasury system since its launch in 2020.
Since 2024, Celo also has a dedicated Public Goods Funding network, CeloPG, which streamlines the support and acceleration of open-source protocols and public goods development on Celo. Through various programs in collaboration with among others Gitcoin, Giveth, and Octant - and leveraging the best in class onchain impact tools such as KarmaGAP, EAS, and Hypercerts - Celo has created a lively public goods funding ecosystem.
A testament to the health of the CeloPG ecosystem is the fact that during the upcoming GG23, 8 out of 10 Gitcoin Community Rounds will operate on Celo. The other two rounds operate on OP Mainnet and Base, meaning ALL community rounds will operate on the Superchain!
With Celo launching its OP stack-powered L2, the Superchain Ecosystem continues its expansion. Today over 45% of all L2 transactions take place on the Superchain and Optimism plays a leading role in progressing interoperability in the Ethereum ecosystem.
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