August 28, 2024  |  View online →

Hi there,

How’s your summer going? It’s been a great August for the Celo ecosystem, and we’re excited to bring you a recap celebrating all of the accomplishments of builders, founders, and creators in the community this month. 

This morning, the Stabila Foundation announced its launch to support the real-world adoption and utility of Celo-native stablecoins, from Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT to Mento Labs’ decentralized local currency stablecoins cEUR, cREAL, cKES, and eXOF. Funded by the Celo community with a 98.7% vote in favor, Stabila will launch incentives for stablecoin liquidity pools, support educational campaigns, and more. 

Follow the Stabila Foundation on Twitter to stay up to date with their initiatives — and keep reading for more ecosystem news.

Ecosystem Highlights

• Celo’s DAUs continue increasing - surpassing 550K last week! 
• Bancor integrated with Celo, bringing Carbon DeFi and Arb Fast Lane to the network
• Carbon offsets driven by Celo’s Ultragreen Money tokenomics infrastructure reached 733.36 TCO2, with partners at Toucan, Wren, and Ecosapiens driving climate impact. 
• The Optimism Superhack wrapped up earlier this month, with 40 high-quality dApps submitted, built for MiniPay and onchain funding. 
• Uniswap’s Mobile App and browser extension both now support Celo. 
• MiniPay saw a significant upgrade including the addition of Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, Mento Labs’ Drag-and-Swap feature, and a Discover page. Read Isha’s conversation with Hackernoon and check out the OpenFi panel recording featuring Opera, Mento Labs, and Fonbnk to learn more!  

Mark Your Calendar

• 🇵🇱 The Celo Foundation will join cLabs at EthWarsaw, where Celo co-founder and cLabs CEO, Marek Olszewski, will present his case study “Ethereum becoming the settlement layer of Web3” on September 6th at 11:30am. Celo Foundation DevRel Partner Lena Hierzi will also take the stage, so keep an eye out for her workshop. 
• 🌍 Celo Africa DAO is hosting Celo Gather Africa on September 10th, bringing together developers, builders, and founders in Nairobi ahead of EthSafari. RSVP here! 
• 🎂 The Celo Foundation, Mento Labs, and Opera are joining forces for EthSafari. Stop by the booth to learn more about MiniPay ahead of the wallet’s first birthday!
• 🇸🇬 Token2049 Singapore is around the corner. In addition to Marek speaking at the event, Celo Foundation Head of Ecosystem Isha Varshney will be speaking on the panel “Emerging Markets: Stablecoins as a Catalyst for Growth” at Stablecoin Summit. Get your tickets today and stay tuned for a full thread of where you can find Celo Foundation, cLabs, and more in Singapore.

Manrui Tang, CEO of Untangled Finance

01. What inspired you to start your company?

We started Untangled because we saw some big problems and wanted to fix them. Back in 2008, when the world faced a financial crisis, we noticed how traditional financial systems were a mess. Later, while working in African agriculture, we saw that farmers and suppliers were struggling because they couldn't get the money they needed. And then, when Covid-19 hit, banks pulled back even more, leaving small businesses in the lurch. So, we decided to create a way for people to get money from around the world in a fair and transparent way through Untangled.

02. What has been your biggest challenge as a founder, and how did you overcome it?

Our biggest challenge was getting started with RWAs. It was tough finding the right partners and getting the money we needed. It felt like a catch-22 situation, where we needed partners to move forward, but we couldn't get partners without progress. But we kept going, focusing on our goal even when things got tough. We worked hard to improve our solution, especially during times when the market wasn't doing so well. We just didn't give up. 

The generous grant from Celo really helped us during those tough times, enabling us to sustain our team and continue developing our solutions. 

03. What is your favorite place to visit?

We love East Asia and Africa. Not just because we have connections there, but because these places are full of life, amazing food, and growing economies that need a boost.

04. How do you handle and adapt to changes in the market as a founder?

We stay flexible. We keep things simple and don't spend too much money unnecessarily. When things change, we roll with the punches. We see change as a chance to grow and learn, using what we know to steer through uncertain times.

05. What are the top priorities for the organization in the coming year?

Right now, our main focus is getting the first 10 pools up and running. These pools will help connect local businesses with global investors, which is a big step in our mission to make capital more accessible for everyone.

Latest NFT Drops

Celosphere Summer is coming to a close, with just 3 collections remaining in the series of weekly drops. Check out all of the wonderful NFT collections from Creators Fund grant recipients and partners so far! 

Join the Conversation

Thanks to Will Ruddick, Grassroots Economics Founder, for showing Celo love on Twitter and highlighting his priorities as a builder!

 It's your turn to join the conversation now... Tell us, why are you building on Celo?