Hi Celo Community,
We’re excited to share the launch of the Prezenti Pledge, a new initiative designed to deepen the social impact of the Celo ecosystem. This project invites grantees and builders to commit 1%(or more) of their future revenue or Token Generation Event (TGE) tokens back to the Celo Community Fund, ensuring its longevity and continued support for innovation. But this is more than just a financial mechanism. It’s a call to rethink how blockchain, and Celo in particular, can harness social mechanisms to create lasting prosperity.
With Prezenti’s Almond round coming to a close. We will give the successful grantees the option to use the new tool and pledge some of their future earnings back into the ecosystem. The hope is that we have a large percentage of the grantees from the round utilize it.
As a show of good will, the first pledge(Pledge-0001) is from Prezenti. We pledge to allocate 1% of our potential future revenue and 1% of tokens from a TGE if there ever is one.
The Thinking Behind Prezenti Pledge
The Celo Community Fund has been a vital resource for our community, providing the funds that have kickstarted countless projects and fueled a mobile-first ecosystem that’s making a real difference worldwide. But over the past few years, we’ve been hearing more and more questions about the community funds long-term viability.
The reality is, the Mento allocation feeding into the fund has been steadily decreasing, and other sources of inflows just aren’t enough to keep up with the amount being withdrawn(see incoming post from the governance guild with some metrics of previous successful funding proposals). We realized we needed a new approach to replenish the fund and ensure its sustainability.
That’s where the Prezenti Pledge comes in, a voluntary, community-driven commitment that reflects Celo’s mission to build a financial system for everyone, encouraging us all to give back and keep the ecosystem thriving for years to come. However, this is just the first interim step; further work and the development of stronger social norms will be required to fully address the fund’s long-term needs.
Why Social Mechanisms Matter in Blockchain
Blockchain technology has often been celebrated for its technical innovation allowing trustless transactions, carbon-negative consensus, and stablecoin innovation. However, its also a network to gather entities and combine those technical innovations with social mechanisms that go beyond code. Traditional financial systems rely on trust built through relationships and shared values, yet many blockchain projects stop at programmatic efficiency, neglecting the human element. Celo has always been different on that front. On Celo, where mobile accessibility opens doors for the unbanked and underbanked, social mechanisms are critical to bridge the gap between technology and real-world impact.
Consider the Alliance for Prosperity as an example that Celo Foundation created at Genesis. This is an examples of how social coordination amplifies blockchain’s utility. The Prezenti Pledge builds on this by encouraging a culture of reciprocity—grantees who’ve benefited from the community fund now have a chance to contribute back, strengthening the ecosystem’s resilience. This isn’t just about economics. It’s about building a community that values mutual support, a principle often overlooked in the rush to scale transaction throughput or deploy new dApps.
Benefits for the Celo Ecosystem
- Sustainability
- Community strength to deepen the sense of ownership and collaboration.
- Creating a culture of reciprocation
Join the Conversation
We believe this is just the beginning. The Prezenti Pledge is an experiment in blending social and technical innovation, and we want your input. How can we enhance social mechanisms on Celo? Are there other ways to extend blockchain’s impact beyond programmatic use? Share your thoughts in the replies, propose ideas for governance, or join us in shaping this initiative. Let’s co-create a future where Celo isn’t just a platform, but a movement.
To get started, visit the Pledge to make your commitment. Together, we can build a more inclusive, prosperous world.
Looking forward to your ideas!
The Prezenti Team