The Celo Regional Council requests funding for Season 1 operations to serve as a decentralized coordination and growth layer for the ecosystem.
This proposal consolidates ecosystem funding for all Regional Hubs under a single, transparent governance framework. Instead of fragmented proposals and duplicated work, the Council acts as a strategic layer to localize Season 1 Intents, harmonize metrics, and scale adoption globally through a network of regional hubs.
By pooling resources, the Council ensures alignment with Vision 2030 and Season 1 priorities, reduces operational overhead, and creates a sustainable model for ecosystem growth.
Over the past seven months, the Regional Council evolved from an experimental initiative to a structured coordination model. This process highlighted critical needs:
Key insights from Season 0:
The Regional Council directly addresses these challenges by:
At the end of Season 1, the Regional Council will have formalized a governance structure that balances decentralization and efficiency:
This structure enhances global alignment while respecting regional autonomy, enabling hubs to deliver measurable contributions to Season 1 Intents.
Celo’s regional hubs are a decentralized growth engine: global alignment, local execution. As Celo transitioned as an Ethereum L2, it turns Season 1 Intents into measurable onchain results by partnering with trusted operators on the ground—meeting users where they already are (stablecoins, mobile, remittances), and channeling that demand into TX growth, TVL, and integrations across diverse markets. This structure isn’t just coordination—it’s compounding advantage: shared playbooks and metrics, faster feedback loops, milestone-based funding via regional multisigs, and credibility with local stakeholders like builders, universities, merchants, and regulators.
Africa has been the leading region for Celo adoption, especially driven by MiniPay, in a market that processed over $125 million in on-chain value in 2023–24. Celo Africa DAO is a benchmark regional hub, active in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and South Africa. It has delivered significant impact by fostering thousands of developers, onboarding merchants, and running community programs that drove real-world use cases. For this season, their proposal focuses on expanding developer funnels, deepening stablecoin adoption through ramps and community pilots, and enhancing on-chain retention strategies across key African markets.
Budget requested to activate the Celo ecosystem in Africa: 102,000 cUSD
Europe hosts some of the world’s most advanced blockchain developer ecosystems, contributing to over $200B in crypto adoption across the region (Chainalysis). Celo Europe DAO has been activating local builders and projects, starting with Vocdoni, which has over 400,000 on-chain transactions, and collaborating with UNDP on events, governance, and on-chain deployment initiatives. For this season, their proposal focuses on deploying 10+ MCP-compatible mini apps, onboarding 20+ builders, and publicly tracking 50,000+ cumulative transactions through KarmaGAP and GitHub dashboards.
Budget requested to activate the Celo ecosystem in Europe: 80,000 cUSD +34,000 Celo
Latin America is one of the fastest-growing regions for Web3 adoption, with high mobile penetration, economic volatility, and over 500 million people creating ideal conditions for Celo and decentralized technologies to thrive. The region is coordinated through a LATAM Coalition formed by CeLatam, Celo Colombia, and Celo Mexico, covering mainly Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, with proven track records in developer onboarding, stablecoin adoption, merchant integration, and community activation. For this season, the coalition aims to expand on-chain impact through workshops, developer pipelines, and real-world usage of Celo assets, targeting over 100,000 transactions, 190 developers onboarded, 65 smart contracts deployed, 35 dApps launched, and much more, with all activities tracked transparently via KarmaGAP.
Budget requested to activate the Celo ecosystem in LatAm: $117.000 cUSD + 20.000 Celo
Asia is a critical region for Web3 growth, accounting for over $600B in on-chain value in 2023 (Chainalysis) and hosting some of the largest developer ecosystems fueling L2 adoption. For Season 1, fragmented country-level efforts (Celo India, Celo Arabia, KohCelo, Celo Turkey, Celo PH) are consolidated into a unified MENA/APAC Hub led by Rise In. Leveraging its proven infrastructure across emerging markets (Turkey, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, UAE), Rise In will activate developers through hackathons, roadshows, and workshops, while retaining talent via mentorship and BD support. The goal is to onboard 650+ developers, generate 250+ projects, and funnel 30+ startups into Celo’s global builder programs by the end of 2025.
Budget requested to activate the Celo ecosystem in Asia: 83,000 $cUSD + 34,000 $Celo
See the breakdown of the Metrics per Regional Hub here: RC Season 1 Goals
These outcomes ensure every dollar spent translates into onchain adoption and long-term ecosystem growth.
The Council completed Season 0 (first semester of 2025) with strong progress in alignment, coordination, and ecosystem engagement, laying the foundation for a more structured and impactful Season 1. This season builds on that work with a clearer governance framework, reinforcing measurable targets, and lean resource allocation to maximize efficiency and results.
Across Season 1, the Council has consolidated regional proposals under one streamlined structure, ensuring alignment with the Season 1 Intents: growing daily transactions, increasing TVL on Celo, and supporting sustainable ecosystem expansion. All approved proposals meet these criteria, with budgets calibrated to deliver measurable outcomes while maintaining transparency and accountability.
The total approved budget for Season 1 is $433,400 (392,000 cUSD + 138,000 Celo at 0.3 US/Celo rate). All activities and results will be reported accordingly and publicly tracked through KarmaGAP, GitHub, and dashboards, reinforcing the Council’s commitment to transparent reporting and governance maturity.
This proposal reflects the community’s strong intention to work closely with the Celo Foundation’s goals, strengthen the ecosystem, and implement professional, replicable methodologies. By focusing on high-impact initiatives—such as Celo Gather during DevConnect 2025 in Argentina —the Council ensures that resources are directed toward initiatives that generate relevant community growth, and tangible on-chain activity and developer adoption worldwide.
Additionally, in the accompanying spreadsheet, you will find:
The Regional Council has succeeded in aligning proposals across the ecosystem while reducing or stabilising budgets in nearly all regions.
The Council prioritised retaining key activities and ensuring continuity in high-impact regions, especially those with demonstrated alignment with Season 1 Intents.
This outcome reflects not only a collective commitment to lean and accountable spending, but also an improved shared understanding of how to frame regional work within a global strategy. The Council has shown its ability to make difficult decisions, balance diverse priorities, and uphold the long-term sustainability of the ecosystem.
We believe this is a clear sign of governance maturity and a solid foundation for continued decentralisation.
The Regional Council is not just funding operations—it is building a scalable, transparent governance model that empowers local communities, amplifies adoption, and creates shared accountability across the ecosystem.
Season 1 is the first step toward a self-sustaining, decentralized structure that aligns global vision with local execution, ensuring Celo continues to grow in diverse, high-potential markets worldwide.
| Region | Communities | Impact | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFRICA | Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda & South Africa | 500 Developers onboarded(KarmaGap) 50k+ transactions generated 10+ high-potential startups onboarded & maturing from the Incubator Program to Celo Camp 200+ on-chain apps/ active repos tracked via KarmaGAP 20 IRL Developer workshops(Codejams) 15+ MVPs integrating MiniPay 20 Miniapps onboarded 4 Hackathons tracked via HackersDAO | 102K cUSD |
| MENA / APAC | Turkey, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, UAE | 650+ developers onboarded (i.e. actively participated in the programs) 250+ projects built, all tracked via KarmaGAP & Electric Capital 500k+ impressions generated | 83k cUSD + 34k Celo |
| EUROPE | Estonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Finland | 250+ developers onboarded (actively participated in programs) 25+ projects built (tracked via KarmaGAP & Electric Capital) 150k+ impressions generated 3+ high-quality projects/startups funnelled into Celo programs 5+ ambassadors activated in the region 10+ MCP-compatible apps deployed with open-source repos | 80k cUSD + 34k Celo |
| LATAM | Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico | 150+ developers via workshops, sprints, and incentive campaigns 150,000+ TVL Onboarded into LP and Staking programs. 65+ Smart Contract deployed. 30+ active projects tracked on KarmaGAP & GitHub 35+ deployed dApps or protocol integrations, tracked via Karma GAP 10+ Merchants activated using stablecoins. 10+ Contributor/Ambassadors onboarded. | 117k cUSD + 20k Celo |
We propose a threshold of 3/7 multisig (0x90860C778a8A69380376BAab6ac7Fec5daff4Ab5) for Season 1.
0x90860C778a8A69380376BAab6ac7Fec5daff4Ab50x90860C778a8A69380376BAab6ac7Fec5daff4Ab5[
{
"contract": "GoldToken",
"address": "0x471EcE3750Da237f93B8E339c536989b8978a438",
"function": "approve",
"args": [
"0x90860C778a8A69380376BAab6ac7Fec5daff4Ab5",
"138000000000000000000000"
],
"value": "0"
},
{
"contract": "StableToken",
"address": "0x765DE816845861e75A25fCA122bb6898B8B1282a",
"function": "approve",
"args": [
"0x90860C778a8A69380376BAab6ac7Fec5daff4Ab5",
"392000000000000000000000"
],
"value": "0"
}
]
A human readable version of this proposal can be found using the following command (on-chain ID determined after submission): $ celocli governance:show --proposalID 252 --node https://forno.celo.org