Deutsche Telekom has invested in Celo, an open-sourced proof of stake (PoS) blockchain designed to allow mobile phone access to decentralized finance projects. The German telecommunication giant is the first such company to join the Celo network.

Deutsche Telekom Invests in The Future of DeFi

Founded in 1995, Deutsche Telekom is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe. The Bonn, Germany-headquartered giant announced on Tuesday the purchase of an undisclosed amount of Celo’s native asset (CELO).

The blockchain platform is focused on making DeFi systems and tools accessible to nowadays’ most used item – the smartphone. Therefore, the collaboration with Deutsche Telekom represents a step forward for DeFi adoption and the blockchain-based company.

The telecom giant is the first company of its kind to join the global Celo Alliance for Prosperity. Adel Al-Saleh, Member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom AG and CEO of T-Systems, commented on the development:

”Our investment in CELO, combined with infrastructure operated by T-Systems, allows our company to take a strategic approach to participate in a public blockchain network.”

In his turn, Andreas Dittrich, head of the blockchain solutions center at Deutsche Telekom unit T-systems MMS, attributed the company’s decision to the growing digitalization of value. Consequently, his team didn’t want to fall behind the trend.

The decentralized finance field, known as ”DeFi”, continues its expansion during the COVD-19 pandemic. Such projects range from cryptocurrency exchanges and loans to insurance. They enable users to sidestep traditional financial institutions as they borrow, lend, or transact with one another.

Celo’s Stablecoins

Several weeks before the collaboration with Deutsche Telekom, Celo also launched a euro-dominated stablecoin cEURO. Backed by a basket of assets, the new product works similarly to the launched in 2020 USD-pegged cUSD by facilitating access to cryptocurrencies from “virtually anywhere in the world within seconds.”

Both cEURO and cUSD are algorithmic and supported by multiple crypto-assets held in the Celo Reserve, such as bitcoin and ether.

”Transferring money between countries is still a huge challenge because of the siloed systems created by traditional financial services. An open infrastructure like Celo, coupled with the Celo Euro stablecoin, enables easy access to digital assets from virtually anywhere in the world within seconds, creating an entirely new remittance market for the European Union.” – said Celo co-founder, Rene Reinsberg.

Moreover, Celo’s Alliance for Prosperity has more than 130 members that include popular names such as Anchorage, Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase, GSMA, and Mercy Corps.