Proposal Key Aspects
- Receiver Entity: Celo Governance
- Status: [DRAFT]
- Author(s): @CeloFoundation
- Type of Request: Funding
- Intent: Season 2
- Funding Category: Direct Grants
- Funding Request: $1.5M equivalent to 8,880,995 CELO, calculated using the 90-day average CELO price ($0.1689 from Oct. 29-Jan. 29) updated at the time of submission.
Summary
Season 1 demonstrated that when essential ecosystem programs are consistently resourced, Celo scales faster. Community funding enabled the Celo Foundation to sustain critical work across developer growth, ecosystem coordination, communications, partnerships, and industry presence, helping Celo become the #1 Ethereum L2 by daily active addresses and supporting real-world usage at unprecedented scale by doubling down on partnerships like MiniPay.
Season 2 is about building on that momentum.
As outlined in the Season 2 announcement, the Celo ecosystem is moving towards focused execution and collective stewardship, prioritizing initiatives that directly support Celo’s core growth objectives of transaction growth and TVL. At the same time, the Tokenomics Initiative aims to evaluate and evolve CELO’s long-term economic design and to contribute to long-term sustainability.
This proposal requests funding from the Community Fund for essential Celo Foundation programs outlined below to provide continuity and execution from January-July 2026. Given the recent news of our forthcoming operating alignment under “Celo Core Co.,” the Celo Foundation will continue operating as usual in the interim and manage day-to-day responsibilities and commitments over the coming months as we complete the merger process.
Season 2 Goals
Season 2 is centered on two key intents:
- Growing onchain transactions
- Growing TVL
The work supported by this proposal advances both priorities by:
- Sustaining the builder and partner pipeline that powers MiniPay & Mini App growth
- Owning strategic ecosystem partnerships and distribution channels
- Keeping Celo visible, credible, and competitive during a pivotal scaling year
- Providing operational continuity while tokenomics decisions are developed deliberately and transparently
Motivation
Celo is no longer in a proving phase. It is operating at real scale, with millions of users, hundreds of active applications, and growing expectations from partners, builders, and the broader Ethereum ecosystem.
Season 1 funding translated directly into:
- Record network usage, reaching an all-time high usage with a peak of 840K daily active users and revenue growth as shared in our Season 1 retrospective & End-of-Year Recap
- Strong MiniPay traction with 11M+ registered users, a vibrant ecosystem of 40+ mini apps, new features, and an extended, exclusive partnership in support of Vision 2030
- Increased global visibility during a highly competitive L2 cycle at industry events like Devconnect and Binance Blockchain Week, among others
Season 2 is about scaling that momentum. Without continued support for essential ecosystem programs, Celo Foundation would be forced to reduce execution capacity at a time when Celo is scaling distribution and usage globally. Community funding in Season 2 ensures:
- Core programs and support remain uninterrupted
- Resource allocation stays aligned with demand and distribution
- Tokenomics work proceeds in parallel, without conflating short-term execution with long-term economic decisions
Scope
The proposed funding supports a lean set of categories required to maintain ecosystem momentum during Season 2.
1. Builder & Ecosystem Growth
Estimated Budget: $400,000
Supports developer and partner onboarding, mini app growth (including a mini app roadshow across Asia), ecosystem support, and incentives that directly drive transaction growth and application adoption.
This includes builder programs previously coordinated through a variety of community programs, now streamlined under the Celo Foundation DevRel team for Season 2 to reduce overhead and improve execution speed. These programs maintain a strong builder funnel from early experimentation through mainnet deployment and distribution.
2. Events & Strategic Ecosystem Presence
Estimated Budget: $250,000
Maintains a focused presence at high-impact industry and developer events to platform Celo’s competitive advantages, distribution engine, mini app ecosystem, and continued technical progress, including forthcoming developments like Espresso pre-confirmations and ecosystem maturity.
Season 2 prioritizes select high-visibility events, aligned with MiniPay expansion, builder sourcing, and strategic partnerships.
Some events prioritized for Season 2 include EthCC Cannes and CoinDesk Consensus Miami.
3. Marketing & Communications
Estimated Budget: $250,000
Supports ongoing external communications and brand positioning efforts, including media relations, ecosystem storytelling, and coordination around major announcements and milestones.
This work ensures that Celo’s real-world adoption, frontier tech, and ecosystem progress are clearly recognized and understood by builders, partners, and the broader market.
4. Strategic Partnerships
Estimated Budget: $500,000
Covers a limited set of core renewals and partnerships that directly support Season 2 intents, including MiniPay-aligned applications and infrastructure critical to ecosystem stability.
5. Streamline Regional Ecosystem Growth
Estimated Budget: $100,000
Evolves the previous Regional Council structure into a simplified, Foundation-coordinated model, onboarding key regional contributors as extensions of the Growth team.
This approach maintains global reach while reducing administrative complexity with stakeholder consensus and enabling tighter coordination around a single ecosystem strategy during Season 2. Celo Foundation will work closely with regional leads to cocreate scope that is reflective of the regional strategy and overall ecosystem priorities.
Timeline
This proposal covers Season 2 (January–June 2026).
- January: Funding received, Tokenomics Initiative begins
- Q1–Q2: Ongoing program execution across builder growth, ecosystem support, and strategic presence
- End of Season: Season 2 retrospective shared with the community
As with Season 1, Celo Foundation will publish a Season 2 retrospective outlining outcomes, learnings, and measurable impact.
Funding Request
The Celo Foundation is requesting $1.5M equivalent to 8,807,986 CELO, calculated using the 90-day average CELO price ($0.1703 from Oct. 20-Jan. 20) at the time of submission.
As in Season 1, this request does not seek to fund the Foundation’s full operating costs, but rather the essential ecosystem scope that directly supports Celo Governance’s priorities during Season 2.
Unused funds will be returned to the Community Fund or rolled forward, subject to community input.
Team & Multisig
Funds will be withdrawn to a Celo Foundation-controlled multisig upon approval.
Celo Foundation Multisig:
0x0f293B1548a55a7ba9541d4c27442e1591B068C9