Deutsche Telekom announced that it is investing in the future of the decentralized financial economy – with a significant purchase of Celo’s native asset (CELO).
Celo is an open-source blockchain ecosystem focused on making decentralized financial (DeFi) systems and tools accessible to anyone with a smartphone. Deutsche Telekom will be the first telecommunications company to join the global Celo Alliance for Prosperity.
Deutsche Telekom will operate infrastructure across the Celo ecosystem. To do so, Deutsche Telekom’s subsidiary
In addition, Deutsche Telekom will open up its SMS API to allow validators to send verification text messages using their service. Increasing the diversity of SMS providers on the Celo platform improves both the security and reliability of the decentralized phone verification protocol, which plays a central part in making the Celo blockchain easy to use.
With its more than 130 Alliance members, Celo’s mission is to build a financial system that creates the conditions of prosperity - for everyone. The resources used to run the Celo network are carbon-neutral.
Deutsche Telekom’s CELO purchase will be made by the Telekom Innovation Pool (TIP). TIP is Deutsche Telekom’s strategic investment fund and is advised by Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners (DTCP).
Adel Al-Saleh, Member of the Board of Management Deutsche Telekom and CEO of
Our investment in Celo, combined with infrastructure operated by
Rene Reinsberg, Co-founder of Celo
The powerful combination of owning CELO and building on its mobile-first platform will help accelerate mass market adoption of digital assets and enable safe, secure and cost-effective payments for smartphone users everywhere.
