Celo ecosystem overview

Celo is a blockchain ecosystem that enables smartphone users to explore the worlds of Web3 and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) via platform assets. The ecosystem's unofficial moniker among crypto enthusiasts is “mobile-first,” which is frequently emphasized by its developers in marketing materials.

Using phone numbers as public keys (wallet addresses), Celo set out to make the digital asset market accessible to billions of mobile subscribers worldwide, including those who are unbanked because of their youth or a lack of a strong credit history.

Smartphone owners prefer Celo

The Celo platform allows users to build smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps), providing the crypto market with fresh DeFi solutions.

The Celo blockchain runs on the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm. The first block was generated in April 2020. It has quickly established itself as the “home” platform for more than 1,000 projects in more than 150 nations, paving the way for everyone to have fair access to financial services.

The company claims that the number of smartphone owners is growing at an exponential rate. However, the rate of growth in the number of digital asset users is much slower. Additionally, cryptocurrencies are the right tool for areas where people lack access to banking services. At the same time, nearly every person owns a low-cost smartphone.

Celo aims to create a symbiotic relationship between software-enabled mobile devices and DeFi apps, through the development of dApps and smart contracts.

The Celo blockchain automatically calculates fees for peer-to-peer transfers and allows users to pay Gas for transactions in any cryptocurrency, including the native CELO token.

Celo's creators and founders

Celo was founded by René Reinsberg (currently president of the Celo Foundation), Marek Olszewski (CTO at cLabs), and Sep Kamvar (an IT expert and former MIT Media Lab professor).

Celo ecosystem assets

The platform has four native tokens available. A token called CELO is used to pay transaction and platform service fees as well as to participate in management (by giving voting rights), among other things. 

The CELO tokens have a fixed supply of one billion. CELO coins in circulation are distributed between the Mento Reserve (reserve portfolio) and the community of CELO owners.

Mento Reserve, which is supported by the Mento Protocol, gives users access to a number of stable assets on the Celo blockchain. The platform currently supports the Celo Dollar (CUSD), Celo Euro (CUER), and Celo Brazilian Real (CREAL) stablecoins. All of these assets can be freely traded among ecosystem participants and are traded on different DEX exchanges.

The exchange of native assets via the Mento dApp is as simple as through the DEX exchange

The Mento Protocol is an Automated Market Maker (AMM) that operates as a decentralized exchange. It is in charge of keeping stablecoins pegged to their corresponding fiat currencies. The CELO asset is used as collateral and is kept in Celo's reserves. When stablecoin demand rises, the protocol mints and sells them for CELO via the Mento platform. When demand for stablecoins falls, the process reverses. When there is a chance that stablecoins won't be pegged to their respective fiat currencies in a 1:1 ratio, Mento arbitrage comes into play.

Stablecoin asset reserve structure

The Celo ecosystem already has nearly two dozen assets, including Ankr (ANKR), Coin 98 (C98), Plastiks (PLASTIK), and others.

What makes up the Celo ecosystem?

The Celo ecosystem focuses primarily on financial apps and services. A growing number of NFT projects are emerging on this platform, including the rather promising AwardPool, which has already raised more than $2.3 million in seed funding. Celo is now home to several DEX exchanges, including the well-known Uniswap and the promising Uberswap. Among the over 1,000 (!) projects in the Celo ecosystem, many have raised funds through grants, including Infibridge, Cent, and AgriUT.

The Celo ecosystem metrics

The majority of projects in the Celo ecosystem fall under one of three categories: DeFi, NFT, or socially focused Web3.

Three key areas of projects in the Celo ecosystem

Numerous Celo projects have received direct investments from large venture capital or investment funds outside the ecosystem.

Nakji Network raised $8.8 million. This protocol is used to index a blockchain organization.

Messari raised $21 million. It provides cryptocurrency-related analysis, news, metrics, and data.

MakersPlace received $30 million in funding. This is an exclusive blockchain-based platform for digital creativity.

Nine Chronicles was able to raise $2.6 million. This is a fully decentralized role-playing game controlled by players.

Krystal raised $6.6 million. This platform offers the best DeFi services, including token exchange, passive income generation, and portfolio management.

TrustToken raised $12.5 million. It serves as a platform for tokenizing freely traded assets.

Aspen Digital raised $8.8 million. It is a cutting-edge technological platform for the management of digital assets. 

Onramp Invest raised $6 million. Financial advisors and investment consulting firms can access crypto assets through this platform.

ZenLedger raised $6 million. This is a method for minimizing cryptocurrency taxes that can be helpful for portfolio managers and investors in digital assets.

Matrixport raised $100 million. This is a platform for trading, investing, and borrowing cryptoassets.

This is not an exhaustive list.

Ecosystem development and drivers for new projects

Celo has created a multi-level system that includes an incubator, accelerator, investment, mentoring, and other services to support startups, invest in them, and help them grow within their own ecosystem. Where else do they take care of startups so thoroughly? You'd have to search well in other ecosystems.

Make your own judgment.     

CeloStarter is a decentralized fundraising community, incubator, and startup accelerator. Symmetric, Pamp, GaneshaToken, and other projects were funded.

The Celo Community Fund was launched in 2021 to support initiatives that share Celo's mission, such as Xeggo, Lovecrypto, Figment, and DuniaPay.

The Celo Venture Fund is a Polychain-led venture capital fund backed by founding investors Andreessen Horowitz and Celo. Its mission is to invest in and develop the ecosystem.

The Celo Camp is an eight-day online training “camp” with instructors from prominent venture capital firms like Andreesen Horowitz, Polychain, Winklevoss Capital, and DragonFly Capital.

The Celo Foundation grant program has supported over 90 projects from 54 countries.

The DeFi partnership was launched in July 2021 and provides mentoring as well as other assistance and resources.

Virtuous Ventures, founded in 2020 by Amy Slawson, invests in early-stage startups.

Flori Ventures is another investment firm that was founded in 2021 by Maria Alegre to support DeFi startups.

Investors

Celo raised $20 million from well-known investment funds such as Andreessen Horowitz, Greenfield One, and Electric Capital in 2021. Later, the project raised an additional $20 million in Series A funding from Andreessen Horowitz, NFX, Polychain Capital, SVAngel, Nima Capital, Valor Capital Group, and other institutional investors to develop Celo's native Valora wallet.

The Celo asset is currently in the portfolios of well-known funds such as a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), DragonFly Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Electric Capital, and others.

Conclusion

Although the Celo ecosystem lacks media coverage, it has become an incubator for more than 1,000 cryptocurrency startups and caught the attention of well-known investment groups. With our overview, we attempted to overcome this lack of media coverage.