Though cryptocurrencies have become more mainstream, their adoption is not as fast. One of the main reasons is that it is not accessible, especially for people who do not have computers but have internet. The Celo platform addresses this problem.
The Celo Platform
For starters, the Celo platform is a mobile-first platform that makes financial dApps and crypto payments accessible to anyone with a mobile phone. Its mission is to build a financial system that creates the conditions for prosperity for everyone. The platform dates to 2017, a creation of GoDaddy and Google executives and an MIT professor. Its mainnet launched in April 2020.
The Celo platform is not on any existing blockchain like Ethereum. Instead, it is a new blockchain network and software in itself, with core libraries and end-user apps that run on the blockchain. It is a proof-of-stake, EVM-compatible, open-sourced platform that is governed by CELO asset owners.
There are three contributors that run the platform: the light clients, the validator nodes, and the full nodes. The light clients are the Celo users who run the platform on their mobile phones. These users have a unique key address that is generated by using their own phone numbers. This easy access to the public key lets users access their wallets more easily and run transactions more smoothly and securely. The validator nodes are computers that participate in Celo’s Byzantine Fault Tolerance consensus mechanism, validate transactions, and produce new blocks. The full nodes are nodes that bridge the light user and the validator node.
Assets in the Platform
Celo has many stable assets in its platform. The stablecoins present gives it more credibility. As of writing, there are three tokens that circulate: the CELO, the cUSD, and the cEUR.
The CELO is the native reserve and governance token of the platform. It is used as the stability mechanism for the cUSD and cEUR and a key governance mechanism for the Platform. The token has a limited supply of 1 billion tokens. To become a validator in the platform, the user should have staked at least 10,000 CELO tokens.
The two stablecoins in the Celo ecosystem so far are the cUSD and the cEUR. The cUSD is the first stablecoin to be released within the platform. It is at par with the US dollar. Meanwhile, the cEUR is a similar stable asset in the platform. It tracks the value of the euro.
