Celo, a Phone-focused blockchain is rolling out a big-budget incentive program, with the launch of a $100 million “DeFi for the People” fund.
DeFi for the People is a collaboration of global crypto organizations coming together by a common aim of bringing DeFi to the 6 billion smartphone users around the world. The initiative include the Ethereum-native protocols like Aave, Curve, Sushi, PoolTogether, 0x and UMA; along with Ethereum infrastructure providers like Chainlink, RabbitHole and The Graph. The program will offer more than $100 million in educational initiatives, grants, and incentives.
Though the program bears similarity to big-budget liquidity mining incentive programs from Polygon and Avalanche, this initiative aims to attract a broader audience to DeFi.
Well, Celo had some success using microgrants to educate users in Colombia on decentralized lending and digital assets. A big portion of the $100 million budget is open-ended for similar on-the-ground efforts.
Rewards are now available for PoolTogether on Celo, and incentive pools with other DeFi protocols will roll-out in the coming weeks and months. This fall is also expecting the launch of Optics, a gas-efficient interoperability protocol for cross-chain communication. Optics will enable users to easily move assets between Ethereum and Celo.
Source: Celo
No-loss savings game PoolTogether is the first to launch under the program, with $500,000 in rewards. This will be followed be Aave, Curve and Sushi with a combined $34 million in incentives.
"Users can deposit into PoolTogether on Celo for a chance to win prizes, and even if they don’t win, keep all their deposited money. This is possible because prizes are funded by the interest earned on deposits. PoolTogether is a unique “no lose lottery” because everyone who participates keeps their money." said the firm.
Well, Celo’s mobile-first platform with more than 1 million wallet addresses spanning 113 countries is a unique opportunity to bring the benefits of DeFi to anyone with a mobile phone. Several new real-world applications for DeFi with Celo are already underway.