Eigen Foundation Grants First Strategic Funds to Celo Foundation for Layer-2 Integration

The Eigen Foundation has announced its inaugural strategic grant to the Celo Foundation, aiming to integrate the off-chain data availability layer, EigenDA, into Celo's forthcoming Ethereum Layer-2. This partnership is set to enhance Celo's scalability and security, according to the Celo Foundation.

Integration with EigenDA

Initially launched as an EVM-compatible standalone blockchain on Earth Day 2020, Celo's core contributors, cLabs, proposed transitioning to an Ethereum Layer-2 during EthCC 2023. A crucial aspect of this transition is maintaining the benefits of Celo’s Layer-1, including scalability and security. EigenDA is a pivotal component in this framework, providing abundant block space and low fees, which are essential for global use cases such as micropayments and universal basic income (UBI) in emerging markets.

Supported by community governance, the cLabs team has been diligently migrating to the Celo Layer-2 testnet, scheduled for a summer launch. During the testnet phase, the integration of EigenDA demonstrated performance consistent with its industry-leading 10MB/s throughput on mainnet. The staking model for ETH will also enable validators to earn additional rewards, aligning economic incentives with enhanced security and performance for Celo’s Layer-2.

Community Support and Grant Allocation

The Celo community's unanimous vote in favor of the Layer-2 migration, coupled with robust strategic alignment from both technical and community perspectives, has led the Eigen Foundation to award this strategic grant. This grant, the first of its kind from Eigen, aims to support key ecosystem partners leveraging EigenDA. The Celo Foundation will manage the grant on behalf of the Celo community, with plans to bolster the Layer-2 ecosystem through the on-chain Community Fund.

cLabs has also published a detailed overview of their recommendation to build with EigenDA on the Celo Community Forum. The community is invited to join a governance call on Thursday, June 27th, to hear from an EigenDA representative.

About Celo

Celo is an Ethereum Layer-2 and mobile-first blockchain network designed for fast, low-cost global payments. The Celo ecosystem includes a decentralized, proof-of-stake blockchain technology stack, the CELO native token, USDC, and USDT as gas currencies, and several Mento stable assets. Launched on Earth Day 2020, Celo supports over 1,000 projects contributing to its global mission of prosperity for all. For more information, visit Celo's official website.

About EigenDA

EigenDA is a high-throughput, decentralized data availability store built as an Actively Validated Service (AVS) on EigenLayer. It aims to lower transaction costs by increasing throughput and ensuring secure composability across the EigenLayer ecosystem. EigenDA utilizes advanced techniques such as erasure coding and KZG commitments to provide efficient data availability while maintaining decentralization and high performance. For more information, visit the EigenLayer Blog and their documentation.