Deutsche Telekom has become one of the first telco to invest in blockchain payment platform Celo in hopes of supporting development in DeFi. One of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies, Deutsche Telekom has also purchased an undisclosed amount of Celo tokens.
Deutsche Telekom has joined the global Celo Alliance for Prosperity, a network of over 130 members, including nonprofits, merchants, payment processors and blockchain firms.
In light of the investment, Celo’s subsidiary T-Systems MMS will operate as a validator using the Open Telekom Cloud (OTC), a scalable cloud infrastructure system the company has developed. The diversity of SMS providers on the Celo platform will improve both the security and reliability of the decentralized phone verification protocol, which plays a key role in the Celo blockchain’s usability.
“We’re excited to have Deutsche Telekom help secure the Celo network, develop the infrastructure, and make meaningful contributions as a validator. The powerful combination of owning Celo tokens and building on its mobile-first platform will help accelerate mass market adoption of digital assets,” Celo co-founder Rene Reinsberg said.
After its launch in 2017, Celo has maintained a rather low profile in the crypto world. However, it has begun to change in recent months partly thanks to a recent $20 million funding by venture capital firms, including Andressen Horowitz.
“We have no idea where the company will be in five to 10 years, but I think we have a pretty good idea that this is not going away,” said Andreas Dittrich, head of the blockchain solutions centre at Deutsche Telekom unit T-Systems MMS.
“Value is being digitized every second we’re talking. Value is being moved to the digital space and this needs to be handled in a reliable and transparent, secure way,” he concluded.
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