USDC  launches on Celo blockchain, CELO price jumps  9%

Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) has been launched on the Celo blockchain, resulting in a 9% surge in CELO token value.

San Francisco-based Financial services company Cricle announced the integration earlier this week. It permits access to the regulated US dollar stablecoin on Celo’s mainnet, eliminating the need to bridge assets between chains.

Celo, emphasizing a mobile-first approach and compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, aims to enable financial success through its focus on real-world applications and speedy, affordable global payments. Its ecosystem includes over 1,000 projects across 150 nations.

The integration is facilitated by Circle Mint’s APIs, which streamline the process of using USDC on Celo for businesses, reducing the necessity for external bridging solutions. This initiative is expected to make USDC more user-friendly and widely available across blockchain platforms.

USDC’s addition to Celo enriches the blockchain’s offerings in stablecoin applications such as remittances, savings, lending, and payments, giving developers and users more avenues to utilize USDC’s liquidity and swift settlement feature. Celo’s system, which uses stablecoins for transaction fees and payments, makes it easier for people worldwide to access cryptocurrency payments and financial services.

Circle and Celo’s collaboration aims to foster financial inclusion, with Circle handling over $100 billion in transactions every year and Celo supporting a vast array of projects worldwide. The open-source nature of USDC means any application can securely manage digital dollars, benefiting numerous DeFi and payment applications.

The addition of USDC on Celo has been highlighted for its potential to facilitate low-cost remittances, continuous trading, and the creation of savings accounts independent of traditional banking systems. 

The token address for USDC on Celo is ‘0xcebA9300f2b948710d2653dD7B07f33A8B32118C’. 

Additionally, there are proposals under consideration to enable the payment of gas fees in USDC, which are awaiting a governance vote.

Over the past year, Celo has been in the spotlight on multiple occasions. Among the noteworthy developments is Opera’s announcement of a new dollar stablecoin wallet on the Celo network for its Android browser. Initially introduced in Nigeria, the primary objective of this move is to harness digital assets to facilitate stable and accessible financial transactions in areas afflicted by economic difficulties.

Celo has also garnered support from big names like Polygon Labs, which suggested the use of its Chain Development Kit (CDK) for Celo’s transition to a Layer 2 (L2) solution on Ethereum. This recommendation came to light after Celo’s core team, cLabs, discussed a different approach for moving from Layer 1 to an Ethereum-based Layer 2, utilizing software from OP Labs known as OP Stack.