Market News
Proposal to Transition Layer 1 Celo to an Ethereum Layer 2 Passes
Securities.io is committed to rigorous editorial standards. We may receive compensation when you click on links to products we review. Please view our affiliate disclosure. Trading involves risk which may result in the loss of capital.
Celo blockchain is preparing to upgrade from its current layer 1 status and become an Ethereum layer 2 after its community passed a proposal outlining the migration plans on Monday.
A total of 131 addresses voted on the upgrade value proposition's temperature check proposed on Jul 22 with only two voting against alongside a sole abstaining address. Celo developers previously noted on the blockchain's governance forum that the necessary change would improve security multifold whilst enhancing compatibility and cross-community interaction between the two networks.
Celo as an L2
The decision to ditch its independent blockchain and return ‘home' is expected to benefit in terms of simplified liquidity while it mulls more future upgrades to become “a highly scalable validium-based zkEVM.' In its prior July 16 announcement post on X, the carbon-negative blockchain said the migration process would initially leverage OP Stack as the architecture enabling the transition.
“Key differentiators are (i) a decentralized sequencer powered by Celo's existing validator set (ii) off-chain data availability via Eigen Layer and EigenDA (operated by Ethereum node operators) and (iii) a design retaining Celo's 1-block finality,” Celo said.
Notably, implementation of the technical upgrade only affects validators and developers – end users or holders of the native CELO token will perceive any changes. Though validators maintain their traditional responsibilities in the new ecosystem, their role will effectively morph into sequencers.
“Thanks to validators, Celo will be based on one of the first (if not the first) decentralized sequencer and deliver 1-block finality on a L2. The one change for both validators and full node operators would be the need to also run an Ethereum node (or access to a trusted one) since any L2 node needs to observe the L1 (Ethereum) to derive the canonical chain,” developers of the mobile-first EVM-compatible platform explained in the indicative on-chain governance proposal.
Several crypto enthusiasts expressed their views, mostly positive, on the migration news including Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin who welcomed the project in a comment made under the initial mid-July Celo migration post.
Celo's CELO token. Source: TradingView
Celo's CELO token was trading 4.61% in the green on Monday with cumulative gains of just under 15% in the last 30 days.
To learn more about Celo, check out our Investing in Celo guide.
