Celo and Circle Partner to Integrate USD Coin on Celo Blockchain.
The Celo Foundation has announced that Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) will be natively launched on the Celo blockchain. This move is expected to boost Celo’s capabilities in handling real-world assets and enhance the convertibility of USDC into traditional currencies.
As Celo transitions from an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible layer-1 chain to an Ethereum layer-2 protocol, USDC will be integrated alongside Celo’s native proof-of-stake governance token, CELO. The Celo community will soon vote on a proposal to make USDC the primary currency for transaction fees (gas) within the Celo ecosystem.
Celo already hosts several stablecoins, including cUSD, cEuro, cREAL (pegged to the Brazilian real), and eXOF (pegged to the West African CFA franc), all issued by Mento Lab. These stablecoins contribute to Celo’s growing use cases in various economies.
Celo is known for its commitment to regenerative finance and being carbon-neutral. It strongly emphasizes mobile technology, aiming to enhance the user experience in emerging economies. For example, Opera’s MiniPay wallet, launched on Celo in September, targets African mobile phone users.
Circle’s senior business development manager, Shamus Noonan, commented on the partnership, noting that it would expand access to USDC and leverage Celo’s mobile-first user base in regions with high blockchain adoption.
The integration with USDC also allows institutional and enterprise users to access Circle’s Mint on/off-ramp, potentially increasing activity on the Celo platform.
USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, following Tether (USDT). Circle, the company behind USDC, has been expanding its global footprint. It received conditional registration as a virtual assets service provider in France and partnered with Japan’s SBI Financial Services to introduce USDC in Japan. Additionally, Circle has collaborated with Visa since 2020, expanding the use of USDC on Ethereum and Solana.
Despite its expansion, Circle has faced allegations of money laundering, which it has denied.
