How To Buy Celo (CELO)?

A common question you often see on social media from crypto beginners is “Where can I buy Celo?” Well, you’ll be happy to hear it is actually quite a simple and straightforward process. Thanks to its massive popularity, you can now buy Celo on most cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase and Binance in 3 simple steps.

Step 1: Create an account on an exchange that supports Celo (CELO)

First, you will need to open an account on a cryptocurrency exchange that supports Celo (CELO).
We recommend the following based on functionality, reputation, security, support and fees:

In order to sign up, you will need to enter some basic information, such as your email address, password, full name and, in some cases, you might also be asked for a phone number or address.

Note: On specific exchanges, you might need to complete a Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure in order to be able to purchase cryptocurrency. This is most commonly the case with licensed and regulated exchanges.

Step 2: Deposit funds into your account

Many cryptocurrency exchanges will allow you to purchase Celo (CELO) with fiat currencies, such as EUR, USD, AUD and others. Furthermore, they will also provide you with multiple deposit methods through which you can fund your fiat account, such as credit and debit cards, ewallets or direct bank transfers.

Note: Some payment methods will have higher fees than others, such as credit card payments. Before funding your fiat account on your chosen exchange, make sure to do your due diligence to find out the fees involved with each payment method to avoid unnecessary costs.

Step 3: Buy Celo (CELO)

This process is similar across almost every cryptocurrency exchange. All you have to do is find a navigation bar or a search bar, and search for Celo (CELO) or Celo (CELO) trading pairs. Look for the section that will allow you to buy Celo (CELO), and enter the amount of the cryptocurrency that you want to spend for Celo (CELO) or the amount of fiat currency that you want to spend towards buying Celo (CELO). The exchange will then calculate the equivalent amount of Celo (CELO) based on the current market rate.

Note: Make sure to always double-check your transaction details, such as the amount of Celo (CELO) you will be buying as well as the total cost of the purchase before you end up confirming the transaction. Furthermore, many cryptocurrency exchanges will offer you their own proprietary software wallet where you will be storing your cryptocurrencies; however, you can create your own individual software wallet, or purchase a hardware wallet for the highest level of protection.

For more in-depth instructions, our ‘Absolute Beginner’s Guide To Cryptocurrency Investing‘ will take you through the process step-by step. In addition to providing instructions for sending and receiving your cryptocurrency.
And if you’re completely new to crypto our beginner, intermediate and advanced level articles will get you up to speed with everything you need to know about the cryptocurrency space starting out. 

Simplecryptoguide.com

What Is Celo (CELO)?

Celo is a platform acting as a global payment infrastructure for cryptocurrencies that aims to target mobile users. 

To this end, Celo’s goal is for financial activity to be accessible to anyone globally thanks to its ability for payments to be sent to and from any phone number in the world.

In addition to basic payments, Celo can support the development of decentralized applications on its blockchain. Thus far, these dapps include one allowing anyone to contribute to a community’s universal basic income scheme, as well as a crowdfunding platform for social causes. 

Central to running  the operations on its blockchain, Celo operates two native tokens: CELO, a governance asset for voting on changes to the protocol and Celo Dollars (cUSD), a stablecoin mirroring the value of the US dollar. 

How does Celo work?

Celo uses your phone number as your wallet’s public key to make it easy to send money to your phone’s contacts. There are billions of smartphone users worldwide, but only a small portion of these people use crypto.

In many countries, banking and personal finance opportunities are unreliable or even nonexistent. Celo is a blockchain that hosts smart contracts and decentralized applications that allow its users to access the possibilities of decentralized finance (DeFi) and trustless transactions.

The platform uses the native token CELO for network gas power fees and Celo governing protocol votes. One of Celo’s earlier proposals voted into effect was carbon offsetting to make its proof-of-stake network the first carbon-neutral blockchains.

The Celo network relies on three contributors to help run its platform: 

• Light Clients – Celo Network applications running on user’s mobile devices, such as Celo’s mobile wallet.
• Validator Nodes – Computers who participate in Celo’s consensus mechanism, validate transactions and produce new blocks.
• Full Nodes – Computers that act as the bridge between Validator nodes and mobile wallets, taking requests from light clients and forwarding transactions to validator nodes.

Who are the founders of Celo?

Celo was co-founded in 2017 by Rene Reinsberg and Marek Olszewski, who were executives at the web hosting firm GoDaddy, along with Sep Kamvar and Marek Olszewski, an MIT professor and Google executive. 

Between 2018 and 2020, Celo raised over $46.5 million by selling roughly 120 million CELO tokens in both private and public token sales. Notable investors include venture capital firms a16z Crypto, General Catalyst and Social Capital. 

Celo development updates in 2023

In 2023, Celo has been focusing on a series of significant developments, reinforcing its position in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. The key updates include:

• Celo 2.0 Technical Roadmap: Celo revealed its technical roadmap for 2023, known as Celo 2.0. This update is primarily aimed at enhancing the Ethereum alignment of the platform. It simplifies the process of tracking Ethereum forks and upstream changes, allowing Celo to adopt new features like proto-danksharding quickly. Another major aspect of this update is scalability. The roadmap aims to accelerate a rollup-centric future on Celo, providing tools and platform features for this purpose. Additionally, there’s a focus on improving tokenomics to position Celo as Ultrasound money, increasing the stability and security of the network by proposing a marginal increase in the minimum gas price​​.

• Developer Tooling Roadmap for Q1 2023: Celo’s first-quarter roadmap for 2023 was dedicated to enhancing developer tools. This includes the integration of WalletConnect v2 in react-celo, which is crucial for wallet and dapp developers. The platform also aimed to support native Celo in Foundry, an essential move to facilitate Celo pre-compiles natively. Additionally, a standalone faucet page was introduced to simplify the process of requesting testnet tokens. Support for Celo in the Wagmi library was also a notable development, offering over 20 React hooks for web3 applications​​.

• Transition to Ethereum Layer 2: A fundamental shift for Celo in 2023 is its proposal to evolve from a standalone EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain to an Ethereum Layer 2 solution. This transition aims for enhanced integration and collaboration with the Ethereum ecosystem. The architecture proposed includes a decentralized sequencer powered by Celo’s validators, running the Byzantine Fault Tolerance consensus, and an off-chain data availability layer operated by Ethereum node operators. This design intends to maintain low fees while ensuring tier 1 block finality​​.

These developments indicate Celo’s commitment to aligning more closely with Ethereum, enhancing its scalability, and improving the overall developer experience on the platform. The transition to an Ethereum Layer 2 solution marks a significant milestone, potentially broadening Celo’s reach and capabilities within the blockchain ecosystem.

Official website: https://celo.org/

Best cryptocurrency wallet for Celo (CELO)

There are plenty of different crypto wallets available. The best one for you depends on your general trading habits and which provides the most security in your situation. There are two main types of wallets: hot storage wallets (digital) and cold storage or hardware wallets (physical). Both have their pros and cons, and there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer when it comes to figuring out which crypto wallet is best for you.

HOW DO I DECIDE WHICH cryptocurrency WALLET TO USE for Celo (CELO)?

Deciding which type of wallet to use depends on a variety of factors, including:

• How often you trade. In general, hot wallets are better for more active cryptocurrency traders. Quick login ability means you are only a few clicks and taps away from buying and selling crypto. Cold wallets are better suited for those looking to make less frequent trades. 
• What you want to trade. As mentioned earlier, not all wallets support all types of cryptocurrencies. However, some of the best crypto wallets have the power to trade hundreds of different currencies, providing more of a one-size-fits-all experience.
• Your peace of mind. For those worried about hacking, having a physical cold wallet stored in a safe deposit box at the bank or somewhere at home, provides the safest, most secure option. Others might be confident in their ability to keep their hot wallets secure.
• How much it costs. It is important to investigate the costs associated with each wallet. Many hot wallets will be free to set up. Meanwhile, cold wallets, like any piece of hardware, will cost money to purchase.
• What it can do. While the basics of each cryptocurrency wallet are the same, additional features can help set them apart. This is especially true of hot wallets, many of which come with advanced reporting features, insights into the crypto market, the ability to convert cryptocurrencies and more. Security features can also be a good differentiator.

For a more in-depth overview of cryptocurrency wallets visit our “Cryptocurrency Wallets Explained” guide.

If you’re going to be dealing in larger volumes of crypto, investing in cold storage might prove advantageous.
Most widespead examples of this being the Ledger Nano and the Trezor.

Ledger manufactures cold storage wallets designed for users who want increased security. Their wallets are a physical device that connects to your computer. Only when the device is connected can you send your cryptocurrency from it. Ledger offers a variety of products, such as the Ledger Nano S and the Ledger Nano X (a bluetooth connected hardware wallet).

Trezor is a pioneering hardware wallet company. The combination of world-class security with an intuitive interface and compatibility with other desktop wallets, makes it ideal for beginners and experts alike. The company has gained a lot of the Bitcoin community’s respect over the years. Trezor offers two main models – The Trezor One and Trezor Model T (which has a built in touch screen).