Deutsche Telekom Invests in CELO, Begins Staking Tokens
Deutsche Telekom will help build Celo’s blockchain infrastructure over the coming years.
Key Takeaways
- Deutsche Telekom has invested an undisclosed sum in Celo Network.
- The firm purchased CELO tokens for staking and will help support Celo’s infrastructure.
- Deutsche Telekom already runs a node for the decentralized oracle project Chainlink.
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Deutsche Telekom, one of the world’s biggest telecom companies, has placed another bet on crypto.
Deutsche Telekom Continues Crypto Foray
The telecommunications giant announced Tuesday, revealing that it had invested in the project and bought CELO tokens. The size of the investment was not specified. The company is planning on staking its tokens.
Andreas Dittrich, head of the blockchain solutions center at Deutsche Telekom, told Reuters:
“We have no idea where Celo will be in five to 10 years, but I think we have a pretty good idea that this is not going away”
The Celo Network uses a Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm, similar to the one Ethereum is planning on launching later this year. The network’s users can stake tokens to become a validator on the network. That involves earning yield in exchange for verifying transactions and pays about 6% APY.
Celo Network is a blockchain payments platform is designed for mobile phones, propping up Deutsche Telekom’s interest in the project. Users can send money to one another through their mobile phone numbers, and the tokens get stored in Celo’s digital wallet. Payments and transfers are made with stablecoins. It just launched its own coin that tracks the price of the euro (it already has a dollar-pegged stablecoin).
The project has existed mostly under the radar since launching in 2017, though it’s started to gain traction in recent months.
CELO’s price has risen with the rest of the market this year, putting the project’s market cap at about $436 million, according to CoinGecko. It closed a $20 million funding round supported by Andreessen Horowitz and other venture capital firms in February.
In addition to investing in and validating the network, Deutsche Telekom will provide other key infrastructure, including an API. It’s not yet clear whether the firm plans to adopt Celo’s features for its own services, but this isn’t its first foray into the crypto space. It already runs a node for the essential DeFi oracle Chainlink and stakes tokens on Flow, the blockchain Dapper Labs built for its popular NFT game NBA Topshot.
Deutsche Telekom AG is Europe’s biggest telecommunications company by revenue. It made over $120 billion last year.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this feature owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.
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