Telecommunications Giant Deutsche Telekom Invests in Blockchain Payments Platform Celo

Deutsche Telekom, a German-based telecommunications company, has entered the crypto space by investing in Celo, a San Francisco-based blockchain payment platform that offers crypto on mobile phones. 

The booming crypto space

Deutsche Telekom, the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue size, has also bought an undisclosed amount of the Celo digital token utilized on the platform. 

Celo is used in more than 100 countries and permits users to send and receive money on their mobile phones in the form of tokens. Its standout tool is a feature that enables users’ phone numbers to be mapped to a blockchain wallet’s public key. As a result, accessing crypto is simplified. 

The German telecom giant, therefore, joins other corporates that have been on a spending spree in the booming crypto space. For instance, Meitu, a Chinese app developing company specializing in photo-editing and video processing software, recently announced the purchase of an additional 175.6 Bitcoins for $10 million, bringing its total BTC reserve to over 940 coins. 

Deutsche Telekom’s investment also seeks to boost Celo’s network infrastructure for a seamless peer-to-peer payment platform.

Value addition is being digitized

According to Andreas Dittrich, the head of the blockchain solutions centre at Deutsche Telekom unit T-Systems MMS, value addition is shifting to the digital space. He explained:

“Value is being digitised every second we’re talking. Value is being moved to the digital space and this needs to be handled in a reliable and transparent, secure way.”

Dittrich added:

“We have no idea where Celo will be in five to 10 years, but I think we have a pretty good idea that this is not going away.”

In other news, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has rolled out a blockchain-enabled trade finance platform dubbed UAE Trade Connect to curb economic crimes like money laundering, under-invoicing, and fraud.