Celo CELO / Celo

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive into Celo.

What Is Celo (CELO)?

Celo is a carbon-negative, permissionless, blockchain with a rich ecosystem of global partners building innovative Web3 dapps to support a more inclusive financial system. Accessible to anyone with a mobile phone, the Celo ecosystem consists of a decentralized, proof-of-stake blockchain technology stack (the Celo platform), CELO governance asset, and several Mento stable assets (cUSD, cEUR, cREAL) that allow for real-world users to use digital assets. The open source Celo mainnet launched on Earth Day 2020. The Celo community passed an indicative on-chain governance proposal (temperature check) to have Celo migrate to an Ethereum layer-2. Google Cloud, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, and many others run validators on the Celo Platform. Today, the Platform supports 1,000+ projects in over 150 countries are building on Celo to, helping to create the conditions of prosperity for all. For more information, please visit Celo.org.

Who Are the Founders of Celo?

Celo was co-founded in 2017 by Rene Reinsberg, now President of the Celo Foundation; Marek Olszewski, current Chief Technology Officer at cLabs; and Sep Kamvar, computer scientist, artist, and former professor at MIT Media Lab.

What Makes Celo Unique?

Celo is a carbon-negative, permissionless blockchain that supports the CELO governance asset and other ERC-20 Mento stable assets, which may be used to pay for transaction fees. With its interoperability, cross-chain compatibility, and mission to create the conditions of prosperity for all, Celo is capable of bringing the regenerative finance (ReFi) movement mainstream by accelerating global financial inclusion, community commerce, and climate-positive technology across multiple ecosystems in parallel. Importantly, Celo is also one of the world’s first [[carbon-negative] blockchains](https://blog.celo.org/a-carbon-negative-blockchain-its-here-and-it-s-celo-60228de36490). Its proof-of-stake consensus mechanism requires a small fraction of the energy used by proof-of-work chains. The Celo community’s commitment to the planet goes even further, as an integral partner in the Climate Collective, an expanding coalition of companies building at the intersection of Web3 and climate action. The Mento Reserve, supported by the Mento Protocol, which allows access to various stable assets to users on the Celo blockchain, further holds a diversified portfolio of digital assets, with plans to have 40% of the Reserve represented by natural capital-backed assets in four years’ time. Another unique feature of Celo is its mobile-first design, which can help reach billions of global users at scale.