This post represents my personal understanding of the Celo ecosystem and the role of Europe within it. It’s an evolving perspective, shaped by my interactions with various players both within and outside the ecosystem.
Above all, this post is an invitation for you to share your thoughts, questions, and visions for the future of Celo EU.
As we prepare for the next stage of Celo EU’s journey, this vision reflects the lessons learned, the progress made, and the opportunities ahead to create a sustainable and impactful framework for Europe’s role within the Celo ecosystem.
Context
Over the past two years, I’ve been deeply immersed in the Celo ecosystem. Initially, I started as a learner. Then, I transitioned into actively contributing to its development. Today, I hold the mandate to coordinate Celo EU during the 2025 season.
Through this journey, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of the ecosystem’s initiatives and the priorities of its diverse stakeholders. While I may not capture every nuance, one thing is clear: Celo is a vital tool for achieving financial inclusion, fostering innovation, and creating impactful business models.
Achieving these ambitious goals requires collaboration, creativity, and accountability. Europe, with its diversity, innovative regulatory environment, and economic influence, has a unique role to play in advancing this mission.
Reflecting on the Celo Community’s Progress
The progress made in community coordination across the Celo ecosystem is inspiring. The establishment of Celo Public Goods has created essential frameworks for collaboration and alignment. Stakeholders such as Celo Africa, CeLatam, Celo EU, Minipay, Mento, and others have worked collectively to drive adoption and innovation.
Other initiatives like Celo Mondo further highlight the ecosystem’s ability to empower individuals.
These collective efforts showcase Celo’s core values: inclusivity, sustainability, innovation, transparency, and collaboration.
Building a Community with Shared Values and Diverse Goals
Europe is a vast and dynamic region, rich with opportunities and challenges. Its economic diversity, regulatory innovation, and strong infrastructure for collaboration position it as a critical hub for driving Celo’s mission. However, the work executed toward these goals has often been poorly coordinated and insufficiently structured, leaving gaps in the ecosystem’s ability to fully capitalize on these opportunities.
To address this, adopting a bottom-up strategy, one that empowers local actors, encourages grassroots initiatives, and aligns efforts more effectively, can help support a broader range of impactful projects. By enabling communities to drive their own initiatives while aligning with shared values, we can create a more agile, inclusive, and sustainable framework for growth.
To maximize impact, we must embrace this diversity while staying aligned with Celo’s shared values:
- Financial Inclusion: Expanding access to equitable financial systems for underserved communities.
- Sustainability: Supporting regenerative practices and climate-positive initiatives.
- Transparency and Accountability: Building trust through open, auditable systems.
- Innovation: Pioneering solutions that push the boundaries of blockchain technology.
- Collaboration: Strengthening partnerships across regions, sectors, and stakeholders.
My vision is to foster a community driven by shared values but diverse goals. Some of our areas of focus may include:
- RWA (Real-World Assets) Innovations: Aligning with MiCA regulations to attract institutional investors and drive adoption.
- DeFi Solutions and Payment Systems: Studying and developing financial infrastructure with minimal barriers for users in Europe
- Impact Funds: Channeling capital toward social and environmental models, a highly needed liquidity.
- Climate-Related Initiatives: Promoting solutions that address urgent environmental challenges.
- Digital Identity and Privacy Tools: Enhancing autonomy and protecting user data while onboarding this solutions into the Celo ecosystem
The Role of Celo EU
Nearly two years have passed since the launch of Celo EU. While tangible progress is evident in the reports we’ve prepared, the less quantifiable achievements, such as brand recognition, network creation, and knowledge accumulation, are equally significant and foundational to our success.
Looking ahead, we have identified several key areas for improvement to ensure that Celo EU’s future aligns with the evolving needs of the ecosystem:
- Long-Term Vision: Transitioning from simply “growing the ecosystem” to building a sustainable, impactful framework for Celo in Europe.
- Regularizing Celo EU’s Structure: Establishing a formal structure to engage with real-world stakeholders, ensure fair compensation for contributors, and diversify funding sources beyond the Celo Community Fund.
- Specialized Focus Areas: Addressing Europe’s unique challenges and opportunities such as:
- Impact Funds and tokenized Real-World Assets (RWA).
- Business models bridging blockchain and traditional finance.
- Fintech 2.0: User-friendly payment solutions.
- Marketing and Community Growth: Aligning activities with a streamlined marketing funnel to improve coordination, conversion, and adoption.
- On-Chain Coordination Tools: Developing modular tools to support contributors, measure impact transparently, and enhance collaboration (more details will be provided in the first draft proposal)
- Supporting Smaller European Hubs: Mentoring smaller hubs to amplify local engagement while maintaining efficiency and autonomy.
- Opening the DAO: Creating open and accessible structures and material for participation and collaboration.
- Full Accountability: Leveraging on-chain tools to ensure transparency through auditable records and real-time insights.
On-Chain Accountability and Coordination
A key area for growth is ensuring full accountability across all Celo EU activities.
We are already working with contributors to develop on-chain coordination tools to streamline operations, provide real-time insights, analytics, and enable transparent, measurable outcomes. These tools are not just technical innovations; they are foundational to building trust and fostering collaboration within the ecosystem.
By implementing open systems and auditable transactions, we aim to ensure that resources are allocated effectively and that contributors are empowered to create meaningful impact. These tools could also help shape the vision for Regional Hubs, providing valuable insights as this initiative evolves globally.
However, coordination extends beyond on-chain solutions. It also requires active, real-world collaboration. Through proposals like the Regional Hub framework, we have the opportunity to better align with the Celo Foundation’s broader goals while fostering deeper connections with other Regional DAOs. By understanding their challenges and sharing resources, Europe can operate as an active and solid ally within the global Celo ecosystem.
This dual approach on-chain innovation and real-world collaboration ensures that Celo EU is not only transparent and efficient but also a reliable partner that contributes meaningfully to the shared mission of financial inclusion, sustainability, and innovation.
What’s Next?
The Celo EU 2025 proposal is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in the coming week. The projected budget is approximately $145k, with 70% allocated to the team and 30% dedicated to operations.
This includes expanding the team from 2-3 contributors to over 10, covering areas such as business development, coordination, community growth, content, research, open collaboration, and legal. Additionally, a portion of the budget will be reserved for community-driven initiatives such as research and event organization.
This operational shift aims to ensure transparency and a community-driven approach, enabling Celo EU to iterate faster, maintain core operations, and uphold its ethos, all while aligning with broader strategies defined by other ecosystem players while actively exploring new sources of income.
What Is Your Vision?
I welcome all feedback, as well as opportunities for partnerships and collaboration across regions and stakeholders. Together, we can align our efforts to unlock the full potential of Celo in Europe and beyond, advancing our shared mission of financial inclusion, sustainability, and innovation.
Now, I’d like to hear from you: What is your vision for Celo EU?
Let’s work together to shape this future and make it a reality!
