The Celo Foundation has announced the successful launch of the Layer-2 testnet Dango, developed by core contributor cLabs. According to the Celo Foundation, this development represents a significant milestone in the evolution of the Celo blockchain ecosystem.
Transition to Layer 2
The transition to Dango, originally proposed at EthCC 2023, involves forking the Alfajores testnet. This move will allow ecosystem developers to begin migrating their projects to a new Layer-2 blockchain designed for fast, low-cost payments worldwide. All previous data on Alfajores, including smart contracts, accounts, and balances, will be preserved and carried over during the migration.
Technical specifications
Dango is built on Optimism’s OP Stack, a modular open-source framework for scalable and interoperable blockchains. The architecture supports the Optimism Superchain and integrates EigenDA as an alternative data availability layer, maintaining transaction fees below 1 cent. The testnet aims to improve key aspects of Celo’s Layer-1 (L1) blockchain. These include:
- Bridging Wes And ERC-20 tokens between Ethereum and Celo
- Reduced block time from 5 seconds to 2 seconds, increasing total throughput by 50%.
- 1-Maintain block finality
- CELO token duality allows interaction natively or via ERC20 interface
- Fee abstraction, support for multiple ERC-20 tokens including USDT and USDC as gas currency
- Send money using your phone number, email address or other social identifier via SocialConnect
- Keep gas prices low for greater accessibility and adoption
- Higher security bridging to Ethereum for asset transfers
- Celo Continues Commitment to Ultragreen Money
Future outlook
The successful launch of Dango will allow infrastructure providers to upgrade to the latest Layer-2 node code. Once all major infrastructure providers have updated, the Alfajores testnet will be upgraded without creating a new fork, allowing developers to test their end-user dApps. The cLabs team expects the migration to be completed by early winter 2024, with the launch of the Celo Layer-2 mainnet.
Community & Support
This launch follows the strategic support of the Eigen Foundation to the Celo community and subsequent community support for cLabs’ governance proposal. Community engagement has been instrumental in shaping the development of the testnet and ensuring it aligns with the needs of the ecosystem.
Introduction to Cello
Celo is a new Ethereum Layer-2 and mobile-first blockchain network built for real-world applications focused on fast, low-cost payments. The ecosystem includes a decentralized proof-of-stake blockchain, the CELO native token, and several Mento stable assets such as cUSD, cEUR, and cREAL. Launched on Earth Day 2020, Celo supports a variety of projects that aim to achieve global prosperity.
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