Marek Olszewski: Celo’s mobile wallet revolutionizes peer-to-peer payments, stablecoins cut transaction fees, and Minipay drives user growth in emerging markets

Key takeaways

• Celo was initially designed to create a mobile wallet on Ethereum, focusing on accessibility for mainstream users.
• Users on Celo can pay gas fees with stablecoins directly, enhancing user-friendliness.
• Celo simplifies transactions by using phone numbers as identifiers, making blockchain technology more accessible.
• Celo is positioning itself as a consumer-friendly alternative to Ethereum with lower transaction fees.
• The focus on peer-to-peer payments and partnerships is expected to drive Celo’s growth.
• Pivoting is a natural part of the startup journey and should not be criticized.
• Celo has maintained a consistent focus on peer-to-peer payments and developing economies.
• Payments are predicted to become as seamless as sending text messages.
• The evolution of crypto payments is closely tied to the need for scalability and stablecoins.
• Stablecoins can significantly reduce transaction fees in regions with high credit card markups.
• Minipay offers a cost-effective solution for international payments compared to traditional services.
• The transition to a bankless ecosystem is expected, but it will take time.

Guest intro

Marek Olszewski is CEO and co-founder of cLabs, the team building the Celo blockchain, a mobile-first Layer 2 network designed for fast, low-cost payments globally. He previously co-founded Locu, a machine learning company acquired by GoDaddy in 2013, where he served as CTO and VP of Engineering. As president of Valora, a mobile-first Web3 wallet, Olszewski has been instrumental in bringing Celo’s payment infrastructure to emerging markets through partnerships like Opera’s MiniPay.

Celo’s design and user-friendly features

• “Celo was designed to facilitate peer-to-peer payments by building a mobile wallet on top of Ethereum.” – Marek Olszewski
• The platform allows users to pay for gas with stablecoins natively, without account abstraction.
• “You can pay for gas with stablecoins on Celo natively without account attraction.” – Marek Olszewski
• Celo uses phone numbers as identifiers, simplifying transactions for average users.
• “We realized that address-based identifiers are too complicated for most normies.” – Marek Olszewski
• Celo positions itself as a consumer-friendly alternative to Ethereum with lower transaction fees.
• “We’re actually cheaper even than Solana when it comes to transaction fees.” – Marek Olszewski
• The focus on peer-to-peer payments and partnerships is expected to drive Celo’s growth.
• “It’s finally taking off after eight years of grinding on this use case.” – Marek Olszewski

Strategic focus and market positioning

• Celo has maintained a consistent focus on peer-to-peer payments and developing economies.
• “Celo identified peer-to-peer payments and developing economies and has stayed locked in on that focus.” – Marek Olszewski
• Payments are predicted to become as seamless as sending text messages.
• “You’ll soon be able to send value to anyone in the world, making it immediately useful.” – Marek Olszewski
• The excitement around crypto was initially driven by its potential to enhance financial inclusion.
• “Crypto was seen as a way to advance financial inclusion in unstable regions.” – Marek Olszewski
• Euphoria allows users to trade based on real-time price movements and macro events.
• “Euphoria projects real-time price charts over a grid of squares for trading.” – Marek Olszewski
• Euphoria is the only application that helps trade faster with more leverage on market-driving events.

Evolution of crypto payments and stablecoins

• The evolution of crypto payments is tied to the need for scalability and stablecoins.
• “Cheap block space and stablecoins are why crypto is focused on payments.” – Marek Olszewski
• Building a stablecoin within the platform may have been a mistake due to lack of credibility.
• “Doing the stablecoin ourselves was maybe a mistake; we weren’t credibly neutral.” – Marek Olszewski
• Bootstrapping network effects is essential for the adoption of stablecoins.
• “You need to start in smaller markets, grow those, and then pull more people in.” – Marek Olszewski
• Celo has around 700,000 daily active users, primarily using the Minipay service.
• “There are on the order of 700k daily active users, mostly Minipay users.” – Marek Olszewski

Competitive landscape and user engagement

• Celo has surpassed Tron in terms of weekly active users.
• “Celo is ahead of Tron in weekly active users, peaking at 3,300,000.” – Marek Olszewski
• Celo’s primary use cases include peer-to-peer payments, on-chain foreign exchange, and decentralized identity.
• “Three big use cases on Celo: P2P payments, on-chain FX, and decentralized identity.” – Marek Olszewski
• Minipay’s integration into Opera Mini has significantly boosted user onboarding in emerging markets.
• “Minipay has onboarded many users through Opera Mini, targeting emerging markets.” – Marek Olszewski
• Minipay offers a more cost-effective solution for international payments compared to traditional services.
• “Minipay was 40% cheaper than MoneyGram, even with on-ramping fees.” – Marek Olszewski

Minipay’s impact and future growth

• Minipay allows users to hedge against currency risk by keeping earnings in a stable currency.
• “Users can keep earnings in dollars and convert to local currency when needed.” – Marek Olszewski
• Minipay is becoming an increasingly viable option for freelancers and global workers.
• “Minipay is becoming a great way for people to earn money overseas.” – Marek Olszewski
• Minipay enables global payments by allowing users to transact using local payment systems.
• “Anyone can start getting paid regardless of location with Minipay.” – Marek Olszewski
• Minipay supports multiple use cases, including freelancing, remittances, savings, and local payments.
• “Four use cases for Minipay: freelancer, remittance, savings, and local payments.” – Marek Olszewski

Stablecoins and financial inclusion

• Stablecoins can significantly reduce transaction fees in countries with high credit card markups.
• “Stablecoins are heavily adopted in Argentina to avoid high credit card fees.” – Marek Olszewski
• Stablecoins provide immediate access to capital for businesses, unlike traditional credit card settlements.
• “Stablecoins give immediate access to capital upon transaction completion.” – Marek Olszewski
• Minipay is addressing the last mile problem by integrating local merchants and providing virtual bank accounts.
• “Minipay maps virtual bank accounts to stablecoin wallets for local merchants.” – Marek Olszewski
• Crypto incentivizes companies to collaborate effectively in emerging markets.
• “Crypto is the perfect way to incentivize companies to grow in the same direction.” – Marek Olszewski

Blockchain technology and market dynamics

• The development of on and off-ramp solutions in emerging markets is becoming seamless.
• “Years of effort have made on and off-ramp solutions seamless in emerging markets.” – Marek Olszewski
• Minipay is positioned to become a global leader in fintech due to its extensive user base.
• “Minipay has close to 10% of the world population as monthly active users.” – Marek Olszewski
• Minipay leverages Opera’s customer base to create necessary network effects in fintech.
• “Opera’s customer base helps Minipay create network effects in fintech.” – Marek Olszewski
• The transition to a bankless ecosystem will take time, but it is a future Marek is bullish on.
• “The transition to a bankless ecosystem will take a while, but it’s a bullish future.” – Marek Olszewski

Future trends and predictions

• The transition to widespread use of self-custodial wallets will take a long time, but significant adoption is happening.
• “Significant adoption of self-custodial wallets is happening, but it will take time.” – Marek Olszewski
• The FX market is the largest financial market, highlighting the potential for on-chain currency conversion.
• “The FX market is the biggest financial market, with trillions exchanged daily.” – Marek Olszewski
• Bringing traditional banking systems on-chain will deliver significant value due to inefficiencies in the current system.
• “Bringing banking systems on-chain will deliver significant value.” – Marek Olszewski
• The launch of a perpdex will enhance the ability to hedge currency risk and facilitate trading in local currencies.
• “A perpdex launch will enhance currency risk hedging and local currency trading.” – Marek Olszewski

Challenges and opportunities in the crypto space

• Incumbent governments in emerging markets may resist the shift to DeFi due to the need to control currency systems.
• “Governments may resist DeFi to control currency systems for taxation.” – Marek Olszewski
• Local stablecoins can provide a necessary unit of account that aligns with people’s daily expenses.
• “Local stablecoins match day-to-day expenses and provide a necessary unit of account.” – Marek Olszewski
• Crypto serves as a check and balance on central banks, providing alternatives when central banks misbehave.
• “Crypto acts as a check and balance on central banks globally.” – Marek Olszewski
• The trend of launching EVM-compatible alt L1s is becoming outdated, and projects should consider launching as L2s instead.
• “Launching EVM L1s is outdated; projects should consider L2s instead.” – Marek Olszewski

Blockchain architecture and security

• The zk fault proof system enhances security and efficiency in blockchain architecture.
• “The zk fault proof system enhances blockchain security and efficiency.” – Marek Olszewski
• Launching EVM L1s may be driven by the existing token premium despite technical challenges.
• “L1 token premium may drive EVM L1 launches despite challenges.” – Marek Olszewski
• Ethereum will become the settlement layer of the entire internet, not just web three.
• “Ethereum will become the settlement layer of the whole internet.” – Marek Olszewski
• Competing as an L1 against Ethereum may stem from ego rather than technical necessity.
• “Competing as an L1 against Ethereum may be driven by ego.” – Marek Olszewski

Onboarding and identity verification in web3

• Onboarding everyone requires a civil-resistant mechanism accessible to all.
• “A civil-resistant mechanism is needed for onboarding everyone.” – Marek Olszewski
• Biometric IDs could serve as a trusted attestation of human identity for onboarding.
• “Biometric IDs could be used for trusted human identity attestation.” – Marek Olszewski
• Self is a zero-knowledge passport protocol for on-chain ID verification without third-party involvement.
• “Self allows on-chain ID verification without third-party involvement.” – Marek Olszewski
• Self enables civil resistance and can onboard billions into crypto using existing IDs.
• “Self can onboard billions into crypto using existing IDs.” – Marek Olszewski