Today, Celo Core Co. announces the appointment of Dr. Markus Franke as Global Head of Stablecoins, responsible for leading the expansion of Celo’s onchain economy and leading stablecoin strategy across partnerships, new stable asset issuance, and institutional adoption. Celo, the Ethereum Layer 2 built for the real world with the leading programmable rails for global finance, serves hundreds of thousands of users every day and is growing. The appointment follows Markus’ role as CEO and co-founder of Mento Labs, early innovators in local stablecoins and onchain FX.
A Celo core contributor and former chief economist at cLabs, Markus helped shape Celo’s early vision for accessible, mobile-first financial tools before mainnet launched on Earth Day 2020. He later led the 2022 spin out of Mento Labs and advanced that mission with 10+ local digital currencies across the Celo ecosystem, including BRLm, formerly cREAL, the first Brazilian Real-pegged stablecoin. His work has directly shaped how millions of people across emerging markets access, hold, and move money.
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Since then, Celo has become crypto’s “Home of Stablecoins,” as the #1 transport layer for Tether’s USD₮, with over five million weekly active users; native USDC; 23 additional stable assets; and more than $65 billion in stablecoin volume since its migration to an Ethereum Layer 2.
“Over the past year, the Celo community has made significant strides delivering on the early vision for a global stablecoin economy. We’re thrilled to welcome Markus to Celo Core Co. as we enter the next phase of growth,” said Elizabeth Peng, Celo Core Co. COO.
“In the six years since we launched Celo on mainnet, users, companies, and financial institutions throughout the world have embraced stablecoins for cross-border payments, B2B transfers, foreign exchange, and remittances,” said Dr. Markus Franke. “Now is the time to push Celo’s stablecoin economy even further, and I’m here to make that happen.”
Celo will soon become the first Layer 2, and second network across crypto after Ethereum, to host native USA₮, the US Dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A. and supported by Tether. With stablecoin gas payments, MiniPay as a core distribution arm, and Markus leading stablecoin strategy, Celo is entering its next chapter as the stablecoin rails best positioned to serve the next hundred million users.