Bankless Podcast Summary

Episode Overview

Title: The Most Underrated Chain: Celo’s Surprising Traction Around the World
Date: January 29, 2026
Guests: Marek Olszewski (CEO, C Labs)
Hosts: David Hoffman & Ryan Sean Adams

This episode spotlights Celo—a blockchain platform often overlooked despite its notable adoption, especially for peer-to-peer (P2P) payments globally. Marek Olszewski shares the origins, unique features, adoption metrics, use cases, and future vision for Celo, as well as how partnerships like MiniPay are fueling Celo’s rapid growth in emerging markets.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Celo’s Take on P2P Payments and Consumer Usability

• Origins & Philosophy
  • Celo started 8 years ago to tackle global P2P payments using mobile devices, inspired by “normie friendly” experiences like Venmo and WhatsApp (04:44).
  • “We wanted it to just be really easy for normies to be able to transact right from the get go… that led to design choices like gas payments in stablecoins and phone number-based identifiers.” —Marek Olszewski [03:15]
• Built an EVM-compatible Layer 1 with features optimized for mobile and user experience, dubbed “the consumer friendly part of Ethereum” (02:45).
• Key Features:
  • Gas fees payable in stablecoins.
  • Users can use phone numbers as identifiers, leveraging the global social graph in contact lists.
  • Transitioned from its own Layer 1 to an Ethereum Layer 2, keeping close ties to EVM and Ethereum ecosystem.

2. Focus and Longevity in Crypto’s Payments Vision

• Celo has remained laser-focused on payments and serving developing economies, a contrast to most chains that pivot frequently (05:10; 05:40).
• Early inspiration stemmed from a personal encounter with Brian Armstrong at a music festival, which Marek credits as his “crypto onboarding” moment (07:16).

3. Market Evolution: Why Payments Are Taking Off Now

• Technical Enablement: Payments in crypto have matured thanks to two “tech tree” advancements: cheap block space and the rise of stablecoins (12:07).
• Network Effects: Success requires focused onboarding in markets lacking robust fintech infrastructure—Celo targets these “last mile” markets (16:45).
• “You need to start somewhere where people don’t have something as good as Venmo. That’s been a big focus.” —Marek Olszewski [15:20]

4. Celo’s Surprising Usage Metrics & Landscape

• Active Users: Around 700,000 daily active users—primarily real people (not sybils/bots) thanks to phone-based onboarding (16:45).
• Global Ranking: Consistently the leading Ethereum L2 by active users, even surpassing Polygon and Ethereum Mainnet at times (17:36).
• Use Cases:
  • P2P payments (primarily via MiniPay, Opera’s wallet for Celo)
  • On-chain FX (especially via Mento Protocol)
  • Decentralized identity (via Self Protocol)
• Brand Comparison: Although Tron is known as the “stablecoin payments chain”, Celo’s weekly active USDT users have overtaken Tron (19:51).

5. Qualitative Impact: Stories from the Ground

• MiniPay’s African Footprint:
  • Embedded in Opera Mini browser (1B+ installs, 100M+ MAUs), MiniPay has onboarded millions, first focusing on Africa, now expanding to LatAm and Asia (21:46).
  • Example: A yoga instructor in Malawi found MiniPay 40% cheaper than MoneyGram for international payments (22:10).
  • Utility extends to freelancers, remittances, savings (hedging local currency risk), and new “Pay as Local” features enabling seamless payments at local merchants.
• Travel/Conference Use Case: Crypto conference attendees can use MiniPay for local payments even after losing physical wallets, thanks to integrations with local rails (M-Pesa, Mercado Pago, Pix, etc.) (26:41).
• Real-World Efficiency: Merchants in countries like Argentina adopt stablecoins for instant settlement, circumventing high credit card exchange rates and freeing up working capital (28:23).

6. Solving the “Last Mile” with MiniPay

• Partnership Details: MiniPay is an exclusive product of Opera, deeply integrated with Celo thanks to a long-term partnership (35:48).
• Global Reach: 20–30+ on/off ramp partners, enabling seamless local and international payments; subsidized fees in many instances (32:12).
• Why Crypto Rails Win: Multiple local partners working on a common open protocol can out-compete any one global fintech like Venmo (34:24).

7. On-Chain FX: A Quadrillion Dollar Opportunity

• FX Market Size: ~$9T per day, $3.2 quadrillion per year (41:56)
• Celo, via Mento, supports 15+ local stablecoins—enabling efficient on-chain swaps, especially for underserved currency pairs (44:04).
• Upcoming: UpDown.xyz perp DEX focused on on-chain FX, making hedging and trading more accessible (44:08).
• “If all finance goes on-chain, we are 0.00001% of the way in the on-chain FX market. Like, we're just getting started.” —Ryan Sean Adams [46:14]

8. Tension with Incumbents: Local Governments and Stablecoins

• Risks of Disruption: Governments may resist open finance to protect local currency control/taxation; Gresham’s Law drives people to use better (dollarized) money (46:14; 48:51).
• Role of Local Stablecoins: Helps accommodate day-to-day needs, but IMF/central banks will ultimately be forced to behave or face capital flight into crypto (50:15).
• “Crypto is a check and balance on central banks globally… for the first time ever, people will have a choice and will be able to actually do something about [debasement].” —Marek Olszewski [50:15]

9. The Stablecoin “Stack Wars” & Architecture Choices

• Industry Convergence: Polygon, Circle (Ark), Stripe (Tempo) all building vertically integrated stablecoin/payment stacks, often from opposite directions (blockchain vs. onramps) (53:28).
• Why Ethereum L2s Will Win: Being EVM and Ethereum-aligned captures deep liquidity and network effects; migrating from L1 to L2 is the defensible path for new entrants (55:35).
  • “If you’re launching an EVM chain, you should launch as an L2… Ethereum will become the settlement layer of the whole internet.” —Marek Olszewski [59:36]

10. Decentralized Identity & Onboarding: Self.xyz

• Zero-Knowledge Identity: Self Protocol lets users prove personhood and uniqueness using biometric passports/IDs and ZK proofs without leaking personal data (62:02).
  • “Self is a ZK passport protocol effectively that proves on chain that you have a valid id.” —Marek Olszewski [63:54]
• Civil Resistance for Airdrops & Onboarding: Enables both scalable user onboarding and granular compliance (e.g., OFAC screening).
• Fun Use Cases: ZK-prove arbitrary data (like hair color for exclusive airdrops); “DaveDAO” reference (68:18; 68:38).
• Adoption: Google Cloud integrating Self for sybil-resistant faucets and mainnet utilities (68:38).

11. Looking Forward: Celo’s Positioning and Vision

• Goal: Become the platform for on-chain neo-banks, focusing on seamless P2P payments as the “suction point” to onboard the masses (70:34).
• “We are building the best platform for anyone to build a neobank on-chain. By focusing on P2P payments, we think that will suck everyone in the world in.” —Marek Olszewski [70:34]

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Celo is like Ethereum’s answer to Tron 100%... for some metrics even overtaking them.”
  —Marek Olszewski [19:51]

• “You will, very soon—I’m pretty certain of it—be able to send value, stable value, to anyone in the world and have that value be immediately useful... even normies.”
  —Marek Olszewski [08:35]

• “When you have access to dollars and it's just a tap away, why would you even use your local currency unless you absolutely had to?”
  —Ryan Sean Adams [48:51]

• “All finance goes on chain, right? Crypto's not done yet, guys. It's barely even started.”
  —Ryan Sean Adams [46:14]

Timestamps of Important Segments

• Celo’s Origins and Design Philosophy: 00:56–03:15
• Laser Focus on P2P Payments: 04:44–06:47
• Technical Enablers for Payments: 12:07–13:56
• Usage Stats & Growth: 16:24–17:56
• Brand & Market Comparison (Tron, Polygon): 18:59–19:51
• African & Global Use Case Stories: 21:46–26:44
• Local Merchant Integration (Argentina): 28:23–32:12
• Solving the Last Mile (MiniPay details): 35:09–37:28
• On-Chain FX Opportunity: 41:56–44:08
• Governments vs Crypto, Gresham’s Law: 46:14–50:15
• Stablecoin Stack Wars & L2 Strategy: 53:28–58:24
• Decentralized Identity (Self Protocol): 62:02–68:38
• Celo’s Vision: On-Chain Neo-Banks: 70:34

Final Thoughts

This episode provides a deep dive into Celo’s under-appreciated traction in delivering real crypto payments in emerging markets. Through user-centric design, a relentless focus on P2P payments, innovative partnerships, and the embrace of Ethereum L2 architecture and decentralized identity, Celo is positioned as a leading contender for on-chain financial inclusion on a global scale.