Season 1 Celo Foundation Retrospective

Governance
1

Celo Foundation Community Funding

July–December 2025

Funding Proposal https://forum.celo.org/t/celo-foundation-season-1-funding-proposal/11808

Summary

Season 1 marked the first cycle in which the Celo Foundation received funding from the Celo Community Fund to continue critical ecosystem work across growth, developer engagement, communications, partnerships, and network coordination.

As we wrap up Season 1 the results are clear: targeted community funding translated into measurable network growth, stronger builder pipelines, and greater global visibility for Celo as the top Ethereum L2.

With the support of a 4.5M CELO grant, the Foundation focused on builder & ecosystem growth, key events, marketing and communications, and strategic grants/partnerships.

Season 1 Highlights

  • Celo became the #1 Ethereum L2 by Daily Active Addresses, regularly exceeding 700K+ DAUs

  • MiniPay surpassed 11M registered wallets and facilitated 300M+ stablecoin transactions

  • MiniPay ecosystem expanded to 40+ Mini Apps across payments, microwork, entertainment, and creative tools supported by strong pipeline of builder introductions

  • Network revenue increased 10x compared to early 2024

  • cLabs have completed major network upgrades including OP Succinct Lite + ZK fault proofs and EigenDA v2, making Celo one of the first ZK-secured Ethereum L2s in live production

  • Celo Foundation delivered a high-profile ecosystem presence at Devconnect Buenos Aires and Binance Blockchain Week, generating significant media and partner momentum, among others

  • Proof-of-Ship cemented its role as a global builder engine with 576 projects, 116 mainnet deployments, and 200k onchain txns, 6 incredible partners

  • Celo ended the year as the Top 5 L2s of the Developer Report Data by Electric Capital by number of established and total developers.

Season 1 demonstrated that when the community resources essential ecosystem programs, Celo grows faster, more consistently, and with deeper alignment across builders, users, and contributors.

Season Context & Objectives

The transition to Ethereum L2 brought Celo into a new era, an L2 with mainstream distribution through MiniPay, significant onchain activity, and broad developer momentum.

Season 1 funding enabled the Foundation to:

  • Sustain and scale programs that directly support ecosystem growth including

  • Maintain global visibility during a highly competitive L2 cycle

  • Support developers building mobile-first, real-world apps

  • Maintain operational continuity

Funding Overview

The Foundation received 4.5M CELO to support targeted work across four categories:
Category Budget Scope
Builder & Ecosystem Growth 30% Developer onboarding, Proof of Ship, incentives, ecosystem support
Events & Strategic Presence 20% Korea Blockchain Week, Token2049, Devconnect Buenos Aires, Binance Blockchain Week, regional activations
Marketing & Communications 20% Awareness, media, co-marketing, product storytelling
Grants & Partnerships 30% Strategic ecosystem renewals and high-impact collaborations

Key Outcomes by Workstream

Ecosystem & Growth: Doubling down on MiniPay Strategic Partnership

MiniPay continued to be the strongest driver of real-world usage on Celo, achieving adoption metrics rarely seen in consumer crypto products.

MiniPay Growth

  • 11M+ wallets created

  • 300M+ stablecoin transactions (primarily cUSD and USDT)

  • 40+ Mini Apps launched, including microwork (Mavu), financial tools, entertainment, and Tether Gold access

  • Strongest adoption in Africa and LATAM, with planned global expansion beginning in 2026

Celo Foundation played a key role in extending the Celo x Opera partnership, announced live at Binance Blockchain Week, with the shared goal of scaling MiniPay to 1B users by 2030.

Impact on Celo Network

MiniPay’s success was central to Celo becoming the #1 L2 by Daily Active Addresses, consistently surpassing 700K+ DAAs, and reaching an ATH at 840.7K by mid-December.

Real usage also contributed to a 10x increase in network revenue, strengthening long-term economic sustainability and setting the stage for the community-driven Tokenomics Initiative.

Builder & Ecosystem Growth

In Season 1, the team grew the builder ecosystem by running core builder programs, supporting teams day to day, and driving Mini App launches and distribution campaigns.

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Proof of Ship (10 Seasons to date)

Season 1 funding enabled the Celo Foundation DevRel team to complete 10 Seasons of Proof of Ship and scale it into a high-velocity builder engine that brought: * 582 total projects

  • 170 multi-season teams

  • 117 deployed to mainnet

  • 2M+ cumulative transactions

  • 27K+ GitHub commits

  • 15K builders & users Regional breakdown of developer activity shows that Africa remained the largest region while India & MENA grew fastest in new teams and output. Additionally, Europe, Colombia, and Mexico showed exceptional consistency and quality across the season.These efforts contributed to Celo ranking in the top five L2 ecosystems in the Developer Report Data by Electric Capital for number of established and total developers. Notable successes include Canvassing (1,000+ Android downloads); Faucet Drops was used at ETHGlobal and Zero to Dapp workshops and now supports cCOP. Esusu, Ads-Bazaar, Akiba Miles, and Bank of Celo also emerged as MiniPay-compatible apps.

Mini App Growth

Season 1 accelerated Mini App growth by helping teams launch and grow their user base. The team sourced high-traffic Mini Apps, helped apps go live on MiniPay, and ran growth campaigns through Mini App Mondays on Farcaster. This work supported 13+ Mini Apps across payments, microwork, games, and DeFi to get their first 1000 users. Some standout Mini Apps include POAP, Celo Poll, EarnBase, Zodiac Cards, Astroblocks, Firebid, Celo Boost, Flow, Flappy Rocket, Piggy Wallet, Delulu, Lendoor, Advents.Fun, with BirdGames and Quali in the pipeline to go live on MiniPay.Developer Support Programs The team also launched several initiatives to help founders succeed on Celo. We launched the Celo Builder Stage livestream workshop series to highlight unique features on Celo. We partnered with 12+ teams to support builders in identifying the right infrastructure and tooling. We reintroduced Celo Builder Office Hours after a half-a-year pause. Each session had an average of 30 attendees and hundreds of builders joined over time to learn about opportunities and get feedback on their projects. Thanks to Pablo and Blessing from Celo Africa DAO and Susanne from ceLAtam for supporting these sessions.Open Source Initiatives We continued to support open source initiatives through the OnlyDust Mini Apps campaign with DevPack. We also continued running the Scouts game, supporting builders with bounties for completing open source Github issues. Events and Founder OnboardingThe Celo DevRel team showcased Celo’s mission and sourced top talent through major in-person events. We sponsored ETHGlobal Taipei, SF Builders Residency, Token 2049 and ETHGlobal Buenos Aires. We attended and mentored at ETH Ghana, ETH Prague, and Edge City Patagonia. These efforts led to a growth in founders and projects from Asia, Latam and Africa.

Additionally, we supported the Self team at several hackathons and key events including zkHAck in Berlin, ETH Global Cannes, ETH Global New Delhi, and the Self Builder Residency. Our efforts helped position Self as a leading identity solution in Web3 and established credibility amongst Ethereum’s builder ecosystem.Celo as a leading AI Blockchain This year, we launched CxAI, and onboarded AI projects and tooling on Celo. We sponsored the Safe Agentathon, launched two MCP servers, built DeFi AI agent starter kits, and published x402 tutorials and guides. The team also hosted over 12 vibe-coding workshops that generated 17k+ views and 100+ hours watched. SummarySeason 1 accelerated Celo’s builder ecosystem by combining a strong onboarding pipeline with distribution support. More teams shipped to Celo mainnet, more Mini Apps reached thousands of users, builders at every stage had clearer paths through programs, office hours, partner tooling support, and major event activations. The team also earned external recognition, including DappaDan’s “developer joy maxi team” award.

Marketing, Communications & Global Ecosystem Presence

Marketing and Communications played a key role in elevating Celo’s public profile, positioning Celo as a leading L2 scaling real-world adoption with frontier technology and amplifying milestones of ecosystem projects and contributors. Following Celo’s historic return home to Ethereum, differentiation in the crowded scaling solution ecosystem was a key priority for the MarComms team. Enhancing visibility and growing mindshare while educating broader audiences on Celo’s technical innovations and rapidly scaling adoption was accomplished across owned channels, media relations efforts, and major global industry events during Season 1.

Through sustained media relations efforts, the Marketing and Communications teams helped the Celo ecosystem secure over 150 unpaid media placements across top outlets, reaching more than 725M unique visitors and delivering an estimated $6.7M Ad Value Equivalency (AVE). Key highlights from leading publications included, but are not limited to, Blockworks’ in-depth analysis of Celo’s adoption and economic strength following the migration to an Ethereum Layer 2 (Rollup reality check: It’s the L1s that are defecting), Decrypt’s coverage of the Celo Foundation’s deepend partnership with Opera (Opera and Decrypt Team Up to ‘Bring the Next Billion Users’ to Web3), CoinDesk’s announcement of Self’s $9M fundraise and points launch,(Zero-Knowledge Identity Startup Self Raises $9M, Introduces Points Program), secured by the Celo Foundation team, and Crypto.news’ spotlight on the Uniswap v4 launch and Celo’s growing DeFi ecosystem (Uniswap v4 taps Celo’s low fees to bring DeFi to the masses).

Media relations efforts were complemented by social media marketing, consistently sharing content about Celo infrastructure updates, partnerships and integrations, and amplifying community voices on Twitter. Highlights include the Jello Hardfork announcement (195K+ impressions), the 2025 end-of-year recap (250K+ impressions), the continuation of “Stable Mag”, an ongoing series reinforcing Celo’s position as the Ethereum L2 for stablecoins with consistent amplification from the Ethereum Foundation, and a video series prepared with cLabs and Succinct ahead of the OP Succinct Lite mainnet activation, among others.

Korea Blockchain Week

  • Celo Foundation organized a happy hour during Korea Blockchain Week, partnering with Mento Labs and Self to drive increased awareness for the ecosystem’s evolution as the home of stablecoins and cutting-edge identity infrastructure. The oversubscribed VIP event saw attendance from leading protocols, custodians, and financial infrastructure companies, with RSVP’d guests from DSRV Labs, TrueFi, ACI (Aave Chan Initiative), and more.

  • The Foundation also secured a speaking opportunity at Epic Web3’s dApps & Mini Apps Day, strengthening awareness for Celo’s robust Mini App ecosystem among developers and founders. On a panel with Abstract, Monad, and Status, moderated by Messari’s Jack Anderson, Celo emerged as a standout chain driving real, everyday usage.

  • The Celo Foundation and cLabs also partnered with Espresso for their “Espresso & Partner Brews” events, joining teams such as Polygon and DSRV Labs to expand awareness of Celo, and tease forthcoming collaborations between cLabs and Espresso.

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Token2049 Singapore

  • Celo Foundation secured a sponsorship for Self at Token2049 Singapore, bringing visibility for the project and its integrations throughout the Celo ecosystem to a global, institutional audience.

  • The team also coordinated a high-profile fireside for Celo co-founders, taking the TON Stage to discuss how Celo ecosystem projects like MiniPay and Self are setting new standards for accessibility, privacy, and unlocking a more prosperous future.

  • The Google Cloud x Self happy hour, planned and executed with hands-on support from the Celo Foundation team, led to broader awareness of the trust that industry leaders across Web2 have in the Celo ecosystem.

  • Celo’s dominance as a leading stablecoin-optimized chain was reinforced through a slot at Stablecoin Summit’s “Choosing the Right Blockchain Infrastructure” panel. This also supported the announcement of Nightfall, giving additional context around the enterprise private payments Layer 3 that launched on testnet that week.

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Devconnect Buenos Aires

  • Celo Foundation secured an official Celo booth at the main Devconnect venue with visibility for ecosystem projects featuring MiniPay, Mento, and Self

  • Secured presence and speaking opportunities for Celo Foundation, Self, cLabs and community partners at SheFi Summit DeFi Connect/Stable Summit, Universal Staking Day, AdoptionCon, WalletCon, EthGlobal Pragma, Privacy & Compliance Day, zkID and Client-Side Proving Day, ZK Real World Summit, AdoptionCon, EthGlobal Pragma, Octant’s Enterprise Hub, and more.

  • Attendees minted 300+ POAPs from “Crypto Persona Quiz” booth activation, shifting from a social follow-based approach to generating onchain transactions in merch distribution

  • DevRel team executed a successful sponsorship of ETHGlobal Buenos Aires for Celo and Self, resulting in 46 projects built, ˜10% of the total projects built at the event* Messaging focused on Celo’s migration to an Ethereum L2 and ongoing network upgrades, including the forthcoming transition to ZK fault-proof rollup, MiniPay’s rapidly scaling adoption, and global real-world use cases- Cafecito with Succinct, celebrating the first Jello hardfork and educating the broader community on the rollout of OP Succinct Lite + ZK fault proofs

  • Facilitated introductions and meetings with key partners that will translate into impactful workstreams over the course of the coming seasons.

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Binance Blockchain Week (BBW)

  • Secured title sponsorship that has generated high visibility for Celo across a new audience, notably including influencers and thought leaders throughout MENA and APAC.

  • Celo Foundation facilitated the major announcement of Opera x Celo Foundation extended partnership, announced live on CoinDesk TV.

  • Secured a keynote speaking opportunity for Rene and Opera’s EVP, Mobile, Jørgen Argensen, to bring visibility to the Celo Foundation and Opera’s extended partnership announcement and highlight the success of MiniPay to date.

  • Additional interviews with CoinDesk TV, Cryptonews, Web3 TV, and KOL ecosystem influencers* “When Markets Go Onchain” panel with Ethena Labs, Hashed, 1inch, Cypher Capital* Announced Ledger added support for CELO swaps and Celo native stablecoins (including Tether’s USDT, Circle’s USDC, and Mento local digital currencies) and executed an activation for Celo-branded Ledgers during BBW- Sponsorship of KOL After Dark event

  • Presenting the “Independent Researcher” finalists at Binance 100 AwardsBinance Blockchain Week brought Celo awareness to a global audience of founders, investors, and KOLs, with Celo brand visibility prominent across the event space and on social content from attendees.

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Looking Ahead to Season 2

Season 1 laid the foundation for the next evolution of Celo’s growth and showed what is possible with targeted funding and strategy. In Season 2 we are excited to continue this momentum with a focus on:

  • Scaling MiniPay across new geographies

  • Strengthening developer pathways into Mini Apps with early and late stage developer programs

  • Completing the Tokenomics Initiative

Continuing to position Celo as the top Ethereum L2 with at events and across the news cycle Celo enters Season 2 with more users, more builders, more applications, and a more advanced technical architecture than ever before and we’re looking forward to building together in 2026!

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