In the days when the former Facebook completely abandons its plans to bring cryptocurrency to the masses with a dollar-linked stablecoin, a cryptocurrency tied to parity with the Brazilian real is born. Brazil is already one of the largest markets in Latin America for cryptocurrencies, but also for fintech innovation more generally, with almost one third of the population owning or trading cryptocurrencies.
Now Celo, the mobile first and carbon-negative blockchain ecosystem that provides several Web3 applications, has launched a new algorithmic stablecoin, Celo Real (cReal), linked to parity with the Brazilian currency. After cUsd and cEur, two digital currencies anchored to the dollar and the euro respectively launched by Celo last year, cReal is a tool that aims to conquer Brazil with diversified services.
The cryptocurrency can be used for fast and secure mobile payments for both apps and centralized finance services (CeFi), and decentralized (DeFi) on the Celo open blockchain.
One of the main advantages of using cReal is in fact that of allowing users to exchange digital assets and transfer value faster, cheaper and more easily with their smartphone. Transaction speeds are up to 5 seconds per block, with fees under 1 cent. Thousands of Bitfy users, Brazil’s largest credit and debit card operator, can now load cReal within the mobile application to pay for bills, order food, buy gift cards and pay at merchants on the Celo network.
Unlike other networks, which require users to own the native token for transactions, merchants and customers do not need to own Celo’s native digital asset in order to transact or accept cReal.