Celo Challenges Tron’s Leadership in Active Stablecoin Addresses

Celo, an Ethereum layer 2 and blockchain-based ecosystem dedicated to mobile-first decentralized applications and smart contracts, is challenging Tron’s position as the chain with the most daily active addresses using stablecoins.

The seven-day moving average of the daily active addresses using stablecoins on Celo has climbed to nearly 700,000, nearly matching Tron’s tally, according to data tracked by Artemis.

The surge follows Tether’s decision to deploy its industry-leading dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDT, on Celo in March. Since then, USDT worth over $200 million has been issued on the network.

A year ago, Celo and Opera partnered to launch MiniPay, a mobile-first non-custodial stablecoin wallet built on the Celo blockchain that facilitates the instant transfer of funds using a phone number.

“Within less than five months of its launch, MiniPay garnered over 1 million users across Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya,” a Celo representative told CoinDesk in an email.

On Wednesday, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin cheered Celo’s progress on X, galvanizing investor interest in the CELO token. As of writing, the cryptocurrency traded at 63 cents, representing a nearly 20% gain on a 24-hour basis, according to CoinDesk data.

“Improving worldwide access to basic payments/finance has always been a key way that ethereum can be good for the world, and it’s great to see @Celo getting traction,” Buterin said on X.

Celo still lags behind Tron in terms of value of stablecoin transferred on-chain this month. Data from Artemis shows that Celo has registered just over $1 billion in the so-called transfer volume, significantly less than Tron’s $335.7 billion. Ethereum remains in the pole position with a tally of over $470.4 billion.