A consortium of leading decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols announced a collaborative $100 million financial inclusion venture titled “DeFi for the People.” The DeFi applications involved in the project — Aave, SushiSwap, Curve, 0x and PoolTogether, among others — will together provide up to $100 million in educational initiatives, grants and incentives in an effort to educate individuals globally about decentralized finance. The initiative — built on the Celo ecosystem — identified a lack of inclusivity and accessibility in the traditional financial markets and, in turn, aims to utilize the decentralized nature of crypto and blockchain to provide finance to the …

Coinbase Custody, the crypto custodial solution offered by United States exchange giant Coinbase, has been chosen by Deutsche Telekom to store its Celo tokens. According to a release issued on Monday, the telecoms giant identified the robust security protocols offered by Coinbase Custody as a major reason for choosing the service. Deutsche Telekom invested in Celo back in April, becoming the first telecom member of the Celo Alliance for Prosperity. Apart from making a “significant purchase” of Celo tokens, Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems MMS subsidiary also became a validator on the mobile decentralized finance Celo network. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, …

Celo-powered crypto wallet Valora has closed on a $20 million funding round, as the company announced it will become a standalone entity. In a Tuesday announcement, Valora said Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Nima Capital, NFX, Valor Capital, and others had invested $20 million in a Series A round for the crypto app, which will now operate as an independent company. Jackie Bona, the former head of consumer growth of Celo's cLabs cLabs, will become Valora’s new chief executive officer. "I am delighted to be leading Valora at such a dynamic time in this important evolution, both as an …

A crypto payments gateway says that it now makes it easy for online merchants in Africa to accept Bitcoin at the checkout. Paychant says its tool can be easily integrated into websites, WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop and an array of other online stores with a single line of code. This gives retailers access to a growing number of consumers who want to pay using cryptocurrencies. According to Paychant, its infrastructure is simple, secure and convenient — and is geared toward small and large businesses alike. Nonprofit organizations can also accept crypto donations with ease. Customizable widgets are offered that can be …

According to a release issued on Friday, the inclusion of stablecoins is part of a broader integration with the Celo (CELO) network. Opera says the move will enable greater payment flexibility for millions of its users around the world. Celo’s stablecoins are tied to their respective fiat currency pegs with both cUSD and cEUR reportedly backed by a basket of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), held in the Celo Reserve. Commenting on the news, Cuautemoc Weber, head of crypto and vice president of business development and mobile at Opera, remarked that Celo’s “mobile-first approach” aligned with his company’s …

Bitcoin (BTC) price received a boost as news that lawmakers in Paraguay plan to present a bill to make BTC legal tender spread across Twitter. Shortly after the unconfirmed news surfaced on Twitter, Bitcoin price rallied to $35,289 before slightly pulling back below the key short-term resistance level. Congratulations Paraguay • a bill has been submitted to make #BITCOIN legal tender • reading likely to occur on July 14th • they wish to be a crypto hub • promotion of green energy mining • some interest from Argentina & Brazil now too — djThistle (@DJThistle01) June 24, 2021 While the …

The United States-based venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has picked T-Systems MMS validator group, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, to delegate its native Celo assets. According to a notice on Deutsche Telekom's website on Tuesday, T-Systems MMS is running the validator nodes via the company's Open Telekom Cloud, which reportedly delivers robust security capabilities. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Deutsche Telekom invested in Celo back in April, becoming the first telecommunications firm to join the Celo Alliance for Prosperity. At the time, the company also purchased a significant amount of the mobile decentralized finance platform's native token, CELO. T-Systems …

Blockchain infrastructure company Bison Trails has partnered with Volt Capital to allow users of the Celo Network to stake their tokens securely through their mobile devices. The collaboration sees Bison Trails running a Celo validator node for Volt Capital, thereby allowing Volt Capital’s community to stake the CELO cryptocurrency, earn rewards and help grow the network. Bison Trails’ node infrastructure allows delegators to more easily stake cryptocurrencies. Volt Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that has set aside $10 million to invest in various cryptocurrency projects focused on the end-user experience. Through its TD Labs subsidiary, Volt Capital has …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) has emerged as a transformational force for not just the cryptocurrency market, but for financial markets in general in 2021 thanks to the ease of access and security offered by blockchain-based protocols which operate on smart contracts. One project that is looking to take the simplicity of DeFi to the next level is Celo (CELO), an open blockchain ecosystem that makes financial tools accessible to anyone with a mobile phone. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of CELO rallied 50% from a low of $4.29 late on May 16 to an intraday …

There’s more to crypto than Elon Musk’s frequent (and frequently misguided) tweets on the subjects of Bitcoin (BTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE). And although the brilliantly visionary CEO/Securities and Exchange Commission-baiting meme king may have positioned himself as a news cycle unto himself, crypto news has the power to influence major price action across the altcoin markets — particularly if you can be the first to react to it. Rumors and news are the true tectonic forces behind the cryptocurrency market’s dynamics. Extensive research by the Cointelegraph Markets Pro data team suggests that three types of announcements — listings, staking and …

Bitcoin (BTC) extended its relief rally on Tuesday and reclaimed a market capitalization above $1 trillion. While many traders panicked during Bitcoin’s recent fall below $47,000, fund manager Dan Tapiero said that he spotted a rare TD sequential buy signal during the low. The last time this signal was seen was in March 2020 when Bitcoin price traded near $3,600. Tapiero believes Bitcoin remains on target to reach $100,000 this year. However, even after the recent rise above $55,000, Bitcoin’s market dominance continues to lag at 49.5%, according to CoinMarketCap data. This shows that crypto investors are focusing on altcoins, …

Deutsche Telekom, one of the largest telecom providers in Europe, has invested in blockchain payments platform Celo to support the development of decentralized finance. The telecom giant has made a “significant purchase” of Celo’s native token, Celo, through its strategic investment fund, the Telekom Innovation Pool, Celo announced Tuesday. The firms did not specify the size of the investment. In conjunction with the investment, Deutsche Telekom has joined the global Celo Alliance for Prosperity — Celo’s ecosystem and a network of over 130 members, including nonprofits, merchants, payment processors and blockchain firms. According to the announcement, Deutsche Telekom is the …