A Vision for Celo EU: Building for Impact and Collaboration

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:

  1. Long-Term Vision: Transitioning from simply “growing the ecosystem” to building a sustainable, impactful framework for Celo in Europe.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Marketing and Community Growth: Aligning activities with a streamlined marketing funnel to improve coordination, conversion, and adoption.
  5. 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)
  6. Supporting Smaller European Hubs: Mentoring smaller hubs to amplify local engagement while maintaining efficiency and autonomy.
  7. Opening the DAO: Creating open and accessible structures and material for participation and collaboration.
  8. 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!

5 Likes

Thanks Joan for putting all these thoughts together. I’m strongly aligned with the values proposed in the vision for the project. However, would love to leave a few thoughts for reflection!

Sustainability has three areas of impact: social and governance (clearly tackled in this vision) and environmental (a must for all of us to be capable of living in this planet in the future). The change provided in decision making through daos is already a gov innovation, and the bottom-top approach, as well as empowering communities and individuals tackles the social area. However, I believe there is a massive opportunity in fostering environmentally-friendly web3 use cases, and specially, focusing on measuring the change generated. We need to find better metrics to track this impact, as well as incentivize the right people to invest in these areas of impact.

Blockchain plays a key role in developing crypto-measuring, or another way of saying immutable measures that generate a crypto-history of impact. The first rule of change when it comes to environmental impact is measuring. We need to foster these within the european ecosystem, a continent with heavy data policies.

From a Latam point of view, we have a lot to work together. Hope we can learn from each other and foster local communities through on-chain tooling to generate real impact in both places.

Always happy to conversate! lfg

3 Likes

Thank you for sharing your vision for Celo EU, Joan.

Below are a few brainstorming ideas to support and strengthen it. This looks ambitious, so prioritization will be key:

  1. Tangible Impact through Strategic Partnerships
    • Collaborate with UNDP and EIB to pilot blockchain solutions for financial inclusion and carbon credits.
    • Focus on real-world projects that highlight Celo’s value in driving sustainability and financial inclusion.

  2. Lead in Regulatory Innovation
    • Support projects navigating MiCA and regulatory sandboxes with practical tools and clear guidance.
    • Offer compliance templates and documentation to simplify project launches.
    • Host workshops to help developers and innovators understand EU regulations.

  3. Build International Connections and Enable Cross-Platform Collaboration
    • Work with INATBA and ISO to shape blockchain standards, particularly for environmental assets like carbon credits…
    • Partner with UN agencies and other climate-focused networks to amplify impact and drive collective progress.
    • Position Celo EU as a bridge between traditional finance, blockchain innovation, and collaborative ecosystems.

  4. Address Key European Challenges
    • Help traditional financial institutions understand and adopt blockchain solutions through collaboration and education.
    • Showcase Celo’s carbon-negative design as a model for sustainable blockchain practices.
    • Build trust by ensuring transparency and regulatory compliance.

I’ll be happy to discuss with the team.

4 Likes

Thanks, Joan for sharing this vision and to everyone else for your valuable comments. I’m strongly aligned with the idea that having a regional community—in our case, Celo EU—helps us address specific regional needs while still honouring Celo’s overarching values and goals.

  1. Decentralized Communities & Local Empowerment
    A regional DAO model offers localized support and governance, which can be far more approachable for newcomers. When people see familiar faces and local contexts, the barrier to entry drops significantly. Europe, with its diversity in culture and regulations, stands to benefit from more bottom-up structures where local leaders and contributors—be they developers, researchers, or activists—take initiative.

  2. Thought Leadership in Regulatory Innovation, Fintech 2.0, and Impact
    Previous comments have noted that Europe has unique strengths in regulatory innovation, Fintech 2.0, and sustainable finance (e.g., RWA focusing on environmental impact). If we specialise in these areas—building research, publishing insights, and fostering pilot projects—Celo EU could become a source of knowledge that other global regions adopt or adapt.

  3. Collaboration with Existing Networks
    Partnerships with networks like PositiveBlockchain, ReFi DAO (which started Bioregional Nodes), GreenPill or Regens Unite could significantly expand Celo EU’s reach. These groups share similar aims—impact, sustainability, and community-driven approaches—and they operate in many cities across Europe. By working hand-in-hand, we can pool funding, knowledge, and resources, creating a more dynamic ecosystem for everyone.

  4. Incentives & Community-Driven Funding
    One of the biggest factors for activating a community is ensuring that contributors can directly access resources—be it grants, bounties, or even job opportunities. A structure where benefits and opportunities flow from the DAO back to the members (and not top-down) is a proven way to grow engagement and loyalty. Keeping the processes transparent and decentralised honours the core of what DAOs and Celo stand for empowerment and openness.

  5. Environmental & Social Impact
    I also appreciate how the conversation highlights environmental metrics, climate-positive initiatives, and the need for crypto-history (immutable, verifiable impact records). Europe’s strong data policies might actually serve as a testing ground for building trust around such solutions.

  6. Team & Success Metrics
    I believe a bigger, more diverse team is essential for Europe to unlock its full potential in the Celo ecosystem. It’s not simply about adding more people, but truly embracing a community-driven approach—where governance, tech, marketing, and research all shape our next steps. Meanwhile, on-chain coordination fosters the accountability needed to build trust among contributors and local communities alike. I fully welcome these measures, as they not only keep Celo EU aligned with its mission of financial inclusion and collaboration but also affirm Europe’s role as a key ally within the global Celo landscape.

Overall, I believe deeply in this vision and many of the additions mentioned in the other replies. There’s incredible power in local support, transparent governance, and shared benefits for everyone involved—humans and the environment alike. With the right on-chain tools, clear frameworks, and an inclusive ethos, we can ensure Celo EU grows into a truly vibrant and impactful hub within the global Celo ecosystem.

I’m excited to collaborate on these ideas and welcome further dialogue on how we can ensure the greatest possible impact for Europe and the entire Celo community. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

In the field of digital identity and privacy, let me introduce:

Encointer: Money by the people, for the people

It can be used by Celo in order to provide a Proof of Personhood service for the Celo community.

By giving a Basic income paid in Celo to the Celo-Encointer members, Encointer can also be used for in person events that will streghten the Celo community feeling.

2 Likes

Hi Joan!

Thank you for your great work!

I personally believe that CELO-EU should be the central knowledge hub for the CELO ecosystem in Europe. I imagine a broad and well organized collection of information that puts the user and her/his needs into central focus.

A person, who simply wants to send 100€ from Germany to Kenya doesn’t want to read about blocksizes, EVM compatibility and also not about MiCA regulations. He wants to be guided through the process….step by step….from the Euro in his bank account via cUSD or USDC until the KSH in his friends m-pesa. And it shouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes.
Same for the other way round…how can somebody with a Valora or MiniPay account access and use his funds in the EU? Step-by-step.

Same for other topics: how do I register a CELO related business? How can I connect with other CELO related businesses inside and outside of the EU? How does the ReFi/carbon market work on CELO and how can I participate? How can I use CELO to connect with other businesses in the Etherum/superchain world?

We will only be successfull if we keep on making people the path to and the navigation through CELO as easy as possible and always think out of their perspective. CELO EU should provide users with all Information they need to use the CELO ecosystem efficiently.

6 Likes