Celo

Celo is an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain positioned as programmable rails for global finance and oriented toward stablecoin payments. The network is fully EVM-compatible and is built from an OP-Stack L2 architecture, EigenDA v2 for data availability, and a zkEVM implemented via Succinct SP1. It advertises roughly one-second block time with one-block finality, average gas fees around $0.0005, and a maximum throughput of about 1,400 transactions per second.

Design choices target everyday and mobile users: fee abstraction allows transaction fees to be paid in ERC20 tokens including USDT, USDC and cUSD; native stablecoins issued through Mento include USDm, EURm, BRLm, XOFm, KESm, PHPm and COPm; and the CELO token has "token duality," functioning both as the native currency and as an ERC20 token without wrapping. Celo also markets itself as infrastructure for AI agents performing real-world, high-frequency transactions and for sybil-resistant applications using Self Protocol's privacy-preserving proof-of-humanity and identity zero-knowledge proofs.

The project's stated mission is to build a regenerative digital economy that creates conditions of prosperity for all. Development is conducted openly through the celo-org GitHub organization, which hosts more than 300 repositories including the celo-monorepo of core contracts, op-geth execution client, developer tooling, celo-composer starter kit, documentation and a testnet faucet. Related projects referenced by the organization include the Valora wallet, the Mento protocol, SocialConnect and MiniPay.

Business model

Celo operates as a public, open-source blockchain network rather than a conventional product vendor; usage is monetized through on-chain transaction fees, described as averaging $0.0005 and generally sub-cent, and the CELO token functions as the network's native currency.

Not disclosed in the available sources beyond on-chain transaction fees paid by network users.

Traction

Publicly reported network metrics include approximately 1.1 billion total transactions (Dune), $6.2 billion in monthly stablecoin volume and 700,000 daily active users (Artemis), $400 million total value secured, and 3,845 tCO2 total carbon offset. The site also states Celo's real-world focus has helped scale applications to over 250,000 daily active users. The celo-org GitHub organization lists 302 repositories, with celo-monorepo at 802 stars and 478 forks.

Latest developments

The network's current architecture is an OP-Stack Layer-2 using EigenDA v2 and a Succinct SP1 zkEVM, with the legacy celo-blockchain Go client placed in maintenance mode and projects migrated to op-geth. Recent public messaging emphasizes building AI agents with real-world utility on Celo and surpassing $6.2 billion in monthly stablecoin volume; GitHub repositories such as mondeto, celopedia-skills, minipay and celo-kona showed commit activity in August 2026.