Investing In Celo (CELO) – Everything You Need to Know

Celo (CELO) is a Smartphone-based DeFi ecosystem that seeks to expand cryptocurrency adoption in some interesting ways. The platform integrates a proprietary payments infrastructure, stablecoins, a custom-built blockchain, and advanced programmability. In this way, Celo was designed to enable the creation of next-gen dapps and streamline global payments for billions.

What Problems Does Celo (CELO) Attempt to Fix?

There are many problems that Celo alleviates. Primarily, the platform eliminates the technical boundaries to cryptocurrency onboarding and usage. By leveraging the current global mobile infrastructure, the firm makes financial tools accessible to anyone with a mobile phone.

Celo Homepage

Ease of Use

The project's developers took great care to simplify cryptocurrency use. The network reduces investor confusion in multiple ways. The interactive interface was built to streamline the most popular user activities. As such, anyone can easily send cryptocurrency to any mobile number using the platform.

Lack of Infrastructure

Sadly, banking isn't an option for many parts of the developing world. These locations are still far away from establishing the type of infrastructure needed to support your local bank branch. However, it's much more cost-effective to provide cellular coverage to these regions. Celo puts these groups directly into the banking sphere by eliminating the bank and replacing it with smart contracts. Users interact with these smart contracts via their Smart devices.

Purchase Power Volatility

Another issue that plagues the market is purchase power volatility. Cryptocurrencies are notoriously volatile. This volatility has made it more difficult for vendors to accept certain coins. For example, imagine a vendor losing money due to volatility during the transaction's approval. Celo introduces two stablecoins to eliminate these issues. Users can also mint their own stable assets using the platform.

Privacy

Interestingly, the network ups privacy through the integration of Zero-Knowledge proofs. Zero-Knowledge Proofs enable users to verify their identity without providing any private data. The protocol has been used in a number of privacy coins in the market, most notably Zcash. In the current financial system, you must provide valuable personal data to third parties. These third parties then store your information on servers or in the cloud. Sadly, when they get hacked, it's your data that is stolen.

Benefits of Celo (CELO)

There are many benefits that users gain when they enter the network. The open and decentralized nature of the platform eliminates gatekeepers. Anyone can gain access to the decentralized economy. This strategy makes perfect sense when you realize that a large percentage of the world's unbanked reside in developed nations like the US. Slightly over 6% of all U.S. households (14.1 million American adults) are unbanked according to the most recent National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Mobile Scalability

Another huge benefit of Celo is its mobile scalability. The platform integrates a unique structure that leverages a hyper-efficient light client and full node incentives. This technology provides the network with the capability to scale up to 6 billion smartphones. Scalability has long been an issue faced in the cryptocurrency markets. Early cryptos such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have had issues meeting the growing demand of users. Celo was built from the ground up to support the entire mobile phone market.

Celo (CELO) Stats

ETH Compatible

Developers who build on Celo enjoy full EVM compatibility. This approach streamlines network adoption as Ethereum is the largest Dapp ecosystem in the world at this time. These developers can provide Celo users with access to their Dapps without the need to recode their projects.

Flexible

Celo integrates a high level of flexibility into its programmability. Developers can integrate the network's features of the network into their Dapps without having to learn new coding. For example, they could choose to utilize the platforms stablecoins, cUSD, and cEUR to simplify payments and accounting in their own applications. They can also create new stable assets using the interface. Uniquely, the platform supports the creation of multi reserve assets.

How Does Celo (CELO) Work

Celo operates as a multi-asset cryptographic protocol for decentralized social payments. The network is an Ethereum hard fork that introduces some alterations to provide more scalability and mobile support. Notably, the entire network retains ERC-20 Compliance. This designation means that you gain access to the vast Ethereum ecosystem including wallets, DeFi applications, and DEXs.

The platform is unique in that it combines a custom-built Address based encryption scheme with stablecoins to create a monetary ecology well suited for use within a social atmosphere. The platform doesn’t require users to learn new terminology or features. It operates similar to other popular mobile money transfer platforms like Venmo or CashApp. Users can send money using the other party's phone number, email, or a host of other options.

Address Based Encryption

To accomplish this task, the network integrates Address Based Encryption. This protocol is an alternative to the identity-based systems in use today. Rather than just giving everyone a public key the network makes users create and store their own public-private key as the first step. Then, they register their private key with the network directly. Notably, you can link email, cell phone, and more using this system. From there, anyone can use Celo to send you payments directly in a peer-to-peer fashion and for the fraction of the costs of sending fiat currency.

DappKit

The Celo DappKit is a collection of helpful tools and documentation designed to streamline Dapp development. Users can find everything they need to start creating immersive Dapps without delay. Best of all, these tools are free to use for the entire network.

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CELO

CELO is the main utility and governance token for the network. Users need to hold this token to interact with the advanced features of the network. It also plays a vital role in the platform community governance mechanisms. The more CELO you hold and the more weight your votes have. Notably, the token has a fixed supply of 1,000,000,000 tokens.

Celo Dollars

Celo Dollars are the native stablecoin of the network. These tokens remain pegged to USD via an elastic coin supply. Additionally, the protocol introduces a variable rate transfer to encourage the long-term holding of these coins.

Wallet

The Celo Wallet plays a vital role in the functionalities of the platform. The Dapp is free to download and install. Notably, payments complete in near real-time. You can send value globally in seconds securely using this Dapp. Also, the wallet integrates Celo Dollars into its core features. Notably, the wallet operates in a non-custodial manner. Non-custodial wallets are more secure than their custodial counterparts because they only allow the user to access the private keys.

All critical features such as sending transactions and checking balances can be done in a trustless manner using the peer-to-peer light client protocol.  In this way, your crypto remains safe regardless of a network hack.

Celo Blockchain

The Celo Blockchain is an open cryptographic protocol that allows Dapps to make transactions with and run smart contracts in a secure and decentralized fashion. This blockchain improves on many of the shortcomings of Ethereum. The network introduces a new block format, transaction format, client synchronization protocols, and gas payment and pricing mechanisms to provide a more responsive experience to users.

Consensus

Another major upgrade developers integrated was the Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus mechanism. The decision to utilize this protocol rather than the Proof-of-Work system found in Ethereum was wise in many ways. Primarily, it eliminates much of the scaling issues encountered by Ethereum users. The network also utilizes a proof-of-stake mechanism for selecting the validator set and participating in governance decisions.

Validator nodes

Validator nodes are responsible for maintaining the state of the network. They gather transactions received from other nodes in the network and execute any associated smart contracts to form new blocks. The system selects a group of Validator nodes to participate in a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus protocol with each block.

Full Nodes

The primary purpose of a full node is to serve requests from light clients and forward their transactions to validators. In this way, anyone can begin to earn rewards for their participation. Notably, to be a full node, you must maintain a partial history of the Celo blockchain.

Light Clients

Light clients are users running Celo applications on their smart devices. All wallet users fall into this category. Light clients connect to full nodes to make requests for account and transaction data and to sign and submit new transactions. Notably, the term Light Client stems from the fact that these users never hold a complete copy of the blockchain on their devices.

Celo Core Contracts

The Celo Core Contracts include the majority of the logic for the system. These contracts are compiled of the identity attestations, governance systems, and the PoS functions.  Wisely, these smart contracts can be upgraded as the network's features expand.

How to Buy Celo (CELO)

Celo (CELO) is currently available on the following exchanges:

Uphold – This is one of the top exchanges for United States & UK residents that offers a wide range of cryptocurrencies. Germany & Netherlands are prohibited.

KuCoin – This exchange currently offers cryptocurrency trading of over 300 other popular tokens.  It is often the first to offer buying opportunities for new tokens.  USA Residents are Prohibited.

WazirX – This exchange is part of the Binance Group, which ensures a high standard of quality.  It is the best exchange for residents of India.

Uphold Disclaimer: Assets available on Uphold are subject to region. All investments and trading are risky and may result in the loss of capital. Cryptoassets are largely unregulated and are therefore not subject to protection.

Celo (CELO) – Putting Cryptocurrency in the Hands of Millions of New Users

Celo provides a combination of features that could help push crypto adoptions to new heights in the coming months. The platform has already begun working with mobile carriers to get their products in the hands of consumers. Additionally, the developer's focus on providing an open network is sure to help drive interest in the platform moving forward. For these reasons, you should expect to see a lot more from Celo in the future.