Celo Co-Leads $100M Capital Raise with Other Major Crypto Protocols to Support DeFi Adoption

Celo, a mobile phone-focused blockchain platform, has announced a 100 million funding program, popularly known as the “DeFi for the people” fund, aiming to make DeFi accessible to the 6 billion smartphone users across the world.

Celo is working in partnership with Ethereum-native protocols like Aave, Curve, Sushi, PoolTogether, 0x and UMA, and Ethereum infrastructure providers like Chainlink, RabbitHole The Graph, and others.

The partnership will provide up to $100 million in educational initiatives, grants, and incentives to educate people globally about decentralised finance.

The initiative, built on the Celo ecosystem, recognised a lack of inclusivity and accessibility in the traditional financial markets and, as a result, it aims to use the decentralised nature of cryptocurrency and blockchain to provide finance to six billion mobile phone users across the world.

Celo founder Rene Reinsberg talked about the development and said that the initiative aims to promote accessibility and inclusivity for the world’s unbanked population.

“Of the roughly 5 million people around the world currently using DeFi applications, less than 10% live outside of developed countries. Cost, technical knowledge and internet access shouldn’t stand in the way of this revolutionary technology. That’s why we’re spearheading DeFi for the People," 

Reinsberg mentioned that the program would make DeFi accessible, get more tools in the hands of more users around the globe, and bring the benefits of DeFi to anyone with a mobile phone. “Mobile is the key to bring DeFi to the majority of people who primarily access the internet through their phones," he added.

The DeFi protocols have collectively committed $100 million in initial funds, with the plans to contribute more funding will follow in the future.

The smartphone focused Celo platform currently boasts more than 1 million registered wallet addresses across 113 countries. Product integration with PoolTogether, SushiSwa, Moola Market, Ubeswap and Valora are the first to launch on the Celo platform, with additional integrations planned to launch in the coming weeks and months.

PoolTogether will launch under the program with a $500,000 prize reward scheme within the next few weeks. PoolTogether is a “no-loss lottery” on the Ethereum blockchain. People pool their money into an interest-bearing investment product, with one winner getting the rewards while everyone else getting refunded.

Aave lending protocol has promised to offer $20 million in token incentives to users who access the protocol via Celo’s mobile platform. While Curve decentralised exchange has prepared to contribute $14 million in incentives under the program, Sushi is ready to channel up to $10 million in front of users who use the Celo platform. Other DeFi protocols like Chainlink, The Graph, RabbitHole, and Wrapped.com have pledged to support the delivery of education and resources.

Reinsberg said that the goal is to bring 1 billion users to decentralised finance in five years. He further said: “By starting this initiative now, we hope to make this more of an industry-wide effort, and I think it’s kind of complementary to other programs and efforts that we’ve seen.”