Celo Migrates to Ethereum Layer 2, Enhances Security and Interoperability

Celo has successfully transitioned from an independent layer 1 blockchain to an Ethereum layer 2 platform, utilizing Optimism’s OP Stack and EigenDA for data availability. The migration was completed on March 26, with the activation of the Celo L2 Mainnet at block height 31056500. This move is celebrated by the Celo team as a significant milestone that enhances the platform's technical capabilities, interoperability with the Ethereum ecosystem, and maintains its low transaction fees and fast processing times.

Rene Reinsberg, Celo co-founder and Celo Foundation President, highlighted that this upgrade aligns with Celo’s mission to create conditions for prosperity and platform a robust onchain economy. By leveraging Ethereum’s network infrastructure, Celo aims to enhance security and interoperability for its millions of daily users. The transition, which involved 20 months of planning, testing, and community governance, was driven by the need to simplify liquidity exchange with Ethereum, improve security, and enhance developer compatibility.

Marek Olszewski, CEO and co-founder of cLabs, the core developer of the Celo blockchain, described the migration as an exciting return home for Celo, combining the best of both networks' advantages to scale Web3 with global reach and continued impact. The upgrade brings Celo’s ecosystem of over 1,000 projects to the Ethereum network, signaling an influx of activity and innovation. Despite the move, Celo retains its ultra-low fees of $0.0005 and rapid transaction speeds.

Key technical upgrades accompanying the migration include a 5-fold improvement in block times, dropping from 5 seconds to 1 second, and the implementation of native bridging with Ethereum. This bridge is touted as a critical security enhancement, reducing reliance on external bridging solutions that have proven vulnerable to exploits. The CELO token now lives natively on Ethereum, with tokens bridged from Ethereum representing CELO on Layer 2. This move enhances security and interoperability for millions of daily users, aligning with Celo's goal of creating conditions for prosperity and platforming a robust onchain economy.

The migration process involved several key steps, including a series of testnets in July and September 2024, as well as February 2025. The Celo Layer 1 client has ceased syncing, and the Layer 2 client has taken over, as announced on March 3. This shift is not merely an upgrade but a homecoming for Celo, as stated by the cLabs team. The migration also brings enhancements to Celo's core capabilities, such as SocialConnect, which allows payments using just a phone number, and fee abstraction, enabling transaction fees to be paid with ERC-20 tokens, including USDT and USDC.

Celo's ecosystem, which includes over 1,000 projects, has also transitioned to the Ethereum network. Popular infrastructure integrations include Uniswap, Curve, Chainlink, and Aave v3, among others. Day 1 partners, such as node providers, RPC providers, indexers, bridges, and exchanges, have committed to upgrading within two hours of the first Layer-2 block. This includes major players like Alchemy, Hyperlane, Wormhole, Binance, Coinbase, Bitfinex, Kraken, Gate.io, and Upbit.

Protocol-level changes include the evolution of validator responsibilities from operating the consensus protocol to temporarily running community RPC nodes. Validator rewards are now distributed through smart contract execution instead of at epoch blocks. A centralized sequencer will operate transaction sequencing and will transition to decentralized sequencing in the future. The migration to Ethereum Layer 2 is a strategic move for Celo, combining the best of both networks' advantages to scale Web3 with global reach and continued impact. This transition not only enhances Celo's capabilities but also strengthens its position within the Ethereum ecosystem, paving the way for future innovations and developments.