Binance Interviews: From Layer-1 to Ethereum Layer-2: Celo Talks CELO Token, Mobile Payments, and the Future of Web3
Celo has long been known as the “mobile-first blockchain,” built to make crypto payments as easy as sending a text. In 2025, the project took a major step forward in its mission of bringing crypto to everyone, everywhere — transitioning from its own Layer-1 network to an Ethereum Layer-2.In this exclusive Binance News Q&A, we sat down with the Celo team to discuss what this migration means for users, how CELO’s token role will evolve, and why features like stablecoin gas fees and phone-number wallets could change how millions interact with Web3.1. For someone discovering Celo for the first time on Binance, what makes it different from all the other blockchains out there?Celo is a 5-year battle-tested chain - now an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain with frontier technology, uniquely focused on scaling real-world solutions and financial tools for global markets. Since launching on mainnet Earth Day 2020, the ecosystem has grown to over 1,000 applications across 150+ countries, spanning a diverse array of use cases but aligned in bringing accessible crypto solutions to users. Celo recently exceeded 750 million lifetime transactions, with over 540 million daily active users leveraging the network’s fast, low cost transactions. Celo is also home to 25+ native stablecoins, including USDT, USDC, and Mento’s 15+ digital local currencies, with a wide range of user-friendly applications, from peer-to-peer payments and remittances to DeFi protocols and privacy-preserving decentralized identity solutions. The breadth of Celo’s stablecoin ecosystem, led by Mento’s onchain FX infrastructure and Opera’s non-custodial stablecoin wallet MiniPay, has led to significant usage growth with over $1.7 billion in monthly stablecoin volume across 988K+ unique users. 2. Celo started as a standalone Layer-1 but transitioned to an Ethereum Layer-2 earlier this year. Why change? Should users expect faster, cheaper, or safer transactions — and when?The Celo community has always viewed itself as part of the broader Ethereum ecosystem since launching on Earth Day 2020 as a fork of Geth and the first carbon-negative, proof-of-stake (PoS), EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain. Over the years, Celo has even future-proofed later-stage ETH2 milestones, like light clients, single-slot finality, and usability. Following tech stack innovations and the introduction of Eigen Layer’s EigenDA, returning home to Ethereum was finally possible with cLabs proposing the migration in July 2023. The successful migration from an L1 to Ethereum L2 took place on March 26, 2025. This reduced block time from five seconds to one second while maintaining Celo’s sub-cent transaction costs and key advantages like fee abstraction, Ultragreen Money, and more. 3. You call Celo “mobile-first.” What does that mean for me if I’m sending money or using a dApp — is it really that easy from a phone?With over 75% of the world’s population owning mobile phones, while access to desktop computers is far less widespread, designing for mobile transactions is key to meeting users where they’re at. Celo’s mobile-optimized design includes SocialConnect, a privacy-first naming service protocol that maps wallets to mobile phone numbers which allows users to send Celo-native assets to someone’s phone number.Mobile-forward architecture has been a core pillar of the Celo blockchain since launch, driving builders with aligned focus on mobile dApps to join the ecosystem. 4. Celo lets users pay gas fees in stablecoins like cUSD or cEUR. Why is that a big deal, and how does it work behind the scenes?Celo’s Fee Abstraction improves the user experience by allowing gas fees to be paid with ERC20 tokens, including cUSD, USDT, and USDC, eliminating the need to hold a separate balance of CELO, especially helpful for new entrants to the space. This infrastructure maintains Celo’s low transaction costs while allowing users to choose the most cost-effective payment option. Governed by community approval, the system supports flexibility by enabling any approved ERC20 token to be used for gas. Developers benefit by building more intuitive dApps, driving adoption and innovation across the Celo ecosystem.5. We’ve seen talk about “ReFi” and “carbon-negative blockchains.” What does that mean for a normal user — and why should we care about sustainability in crypto?Regenerative finance (ReFi) reimagines traditional finance by using digital currency as a tool to solve global systemic problems and regenerate communities and natural resources. Projects are building for real-world climate and community impact by tokenizing real-world assets on the blockchain, such as land and carbon offsets, implementing poverty alleviation mechanisms like Unconditional Basic Income (UBI), and creating onchain economies around the tracking and recording of biodiversity data onchain. Crypto and Web3 more broadly serve as tools for mass coordination, allowing people throughout the world to come together in their pursuit of a more sustainable and equitable environment. 6. What are some real things I can do on Celo today — payments, NFTs, DeFi? Can you name a few apps or tools users actually use?Celo ecosystem developers are building to make crypto useful in everyday life across a wide variety of applications. Prime examples include Mento, which enables 1:1 stablecoin swaps, bringing forex trading onchain with fast, 24/7 transactions at reduced costs; Pretium, which facilitates merchant payments and bill settlements with stablecoins; and Bando, which enables seamless offramping to use stablecoins at your favorite retailers. Celo also has a robust DeFi ecosystem, led by Aave, Curve, Uniswap, Velodrome, and Bancor, and an emerging ecosystem of Mini apps across 12 Farcaster apps and 17 MiniPay apps, the latter group seeing over 15 million weekly impressions. 7. CELO is listed on Binance. Beyond trading, what role does the token play — and will that role change now that Celo is an L2?The role of CELO as the native governance token of the Celo blockchain has not changed, enabling holders to participate in community votes like upgrading smart contracts, adding new stable currencies, or modifying the reserve target asset allocation. An example of this in action was the Celo L2 migration, where community members voted on cLabs’ temperature check of community interest in transition to an Ethereum L2 and key architecture decisions following, like building on Optimism’s OP Stack. 8. Some community members worry that after the Ethereum L2 migration, CELO might lose relevance. How do you respond to those concerns?The successful L2 migration and return home to Ethereum brought a renewed energy to the Celo community. Joining the broader Ethereum ecosystem helped expand the scope of Celo builders’ work towards a more prosperous future, onboarding industry-leading projects like Aave, Velodrome, Eco, and more. Activity has also continued to accelerate, surpassing $1.7 billion in monthly stablecoin volume with over 100 million monthly stablecoin transactions and reaching 6.44 million total token transfers over a one-week period ending July 29th. 9. Crypto is full of hype. What’s the hardest challenge Celo has faced — and what did you learn from it?As a five-year-old battle-tested chain, the Celo community’s strength lies in its commitment to making crypto more accessible for everyone, everywhere. In an industry with rapidly changing trends, it’s necessary to remain laser-focused on the core mission while embracing emerging, frontier technologies to achieve overall goals. 10. Where does Celo see the biggest growth for users in 2025? DeFi? Real-world assets (RWAs)? AI-powered apps? Something else?Accessible, user-friendly stablecoin solutions like Opera’s MiniPay stablecoin wallet continue onboarding new users to crypto, and Celo specifically, every day. MiniPay recently announced passing 8 million activated wallets, and this is just the beginning following the recent launch of MiniPay as a standalone app available in over 50 countries. We’re also seeing significant growth of DeFi activity on Celo through trading and staking with Velodrome and Aave, which along with Ichi, Oku and ALMs Steer and Ichi are driving onchain FX trading. There has also been expansion in the DeFi ecosystem since Aave and Velodrome launched just before and just after the L2 migration, respectively. The flywheel is in motion, with additional blue-chip, leading DeFi protocols joining the ecosystem amidst significantly increased user activity. The launch of Self, a privacy-first identity solution leveraging ZK to verify proof of humanity and key characteristics like age and country of residence (without disclosing sensitive information, is also helping to drive user growth for Celo. Offering secure verification tools is paramount to onboarding real, verified humans to the world of Web3. 10. What should users expect next — any major roadmap milestones or new features this year?Shortly after the Isthmus hardfork in early July, which aligns Celo with the latest Ethereum infrastructure, improving scalability, simplified withdrawals, and enhanced handling of gas, core Celo contributor cLabs unveiled the Eclair testnet. Celo Eclair is efficient, secure, and modular; the first public network to combine OP Succinct Lite w/ EigenDA v2 with ZK-powered fault proofs and low-cost, high-throughput data availability. cLabs is also actively exploring an integration with Espresso for near-instant block confirmations, making L2-to-L2 experiences much smoother.11. If you had to sum up Celo’s mission in one sentence for Binance users, what would it be?Celo’s mission is to create the conditions of prosperity for all.
