What is Celo?
Celo is a mobile-first platform that makes financial dApps and crypto payments accessible to anyone with a mobile phone. The Celo platform is proof-of-stake, EVM-compatible, open source, and governed by CELO asset owners.
History of Celo (CELO)
Celo was founded in 2017 by The Celo Foundation, a non-profit organization based in the US that supports the growth and development of the open-source Celo Platform.
According to the Celo Foundation, useability and price stability remain two of the main inhibitors of cryptocurrency adoption. Celo's mobile-first approach aims to bridge this gap.
What is Celo used for?
Celo is a payments platform attempting to make crypto payments as easy as possible to support communities around the world who are still left without critical financial services. Instead of having to manage complex crypto addresses, users can send cryptocurrencies using mobile phone numbers.
CELO is a proof-of-stake (PoS) token used for transaction fees, governance participation and related activities on the Celo network. It is a freely tradable cryptocurrency on the ERC-20 token standard.
How does Celo work?
Celo aims to be a cryptocurrency for everyone –– not just for blockchain techies or fintech enthusiasts. That’s why you don’t need much in order to send and receive Celo Coins. Celo is designed to work with just a smartphone and an internet connection.
Exchanging money with Celo is as fast and easy as sending a text message. Senders can simply use a recipient's phone number to make a financial transaction –– and when signing up to a wallet that supports Celo, such as Valora, you need nothing but a mobile phone number.
Every Celo Coin in circulation is backed by the Celo Reserve which is made up of CELO (a native, fixed-supply asset) and a basket of other cryptocurrencies. Since Celo is based around an elastic supply rule, the number of Celo Coins in circulation can adapt to fluctuations in demand. And thanks to local coins, the reserve can theoretically release more Celo Dollars into circulation while taking Celo Euros out of circulation, and vice versa
On the technical side, Celo is built using the Go implementation of Ethereum and leverages a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. There are validators and nodes which help verify transactions and secure the network.
Advantages
How do I buy Celo (CELO) in Canada (CELO to CAD)?
To buy CELO in Canada, you can set up an account on a cryptocurrency trading platform such as NDAX and buy CELO directly with the Canadian dollar.
You can also buy CELO in Canada using a peer-to-peer trade. However, using platforms such as NDAX will allow for affordable, safe, and fast transactions.
How do I store CELO?
It is highly recommended that you always store Celo (CELO) in a cryptocurrency hardware wallet. However, at NDAX we have all the security measures in place to allow you to safely store your cryptocurrency on our platform. See NDAX Security. For cold wallets, check out Ledger or Trezor for your hardware wallet needs.