About this episode
Celo is quietly powering real-world payments at global scale. In this episode, David and Ryan sit down with Marek Olszewski, CEO of cLabs, to unpack how Celo became a fast, low-cost payments layer used for remittances, savings, onchain FX, and identity across emerging markets.They explore why Celo stayed focused on peer-to-peer payments while others chased trends, how Opera’s MiniPay onboarded hundreds of thousands of daily users, and why stablecoins are reshaping global finance from the ground up. The conversation spans onchain FX, proof of personhood with Self.xyz, Ethereum’s L2 future, and why fast, cheap payments, not hype, may be crypto’s real unlock.---?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium---?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKEThttps://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast? EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADINGhttps://bankless.cc/euphoria?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDThttps://bankless.cc/bitget?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODEShttps://bankless.cc/spotify-premium?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTShttps://bankless.cc/TDR-pro?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALEShttps://bankless.cc/ico-watch---TIMESTAMPS0:00 Celo’s Origin Story and Design Philosophy5:18 The Long Bet on P2P Payments17:19 700,000 Daily Users: The Data Behind the Narrative22:11 MiniPay: Global Venmo Built on Celo30:28 Solving the Last-Mile Banking Problem37:36 Celo x Opera partnership40:37 Stablecoins, FX, and the Rise of Onchain Forex46:53 Perpetuals for FX: UpDown.xyz49:37 Open Finance vs. Governments and the Battle for the Payments Stack59:13 Why Celo Chose Ethereum L2 Over an L1 Path1:06:02 Self.xyz and Proof of Personhood1:14:06 Putting It All Together: Celo’s Endgame---RESOURCESMarek Olszewskihttps://x.com/marek_Celo
