What is commonly called Celo staking now involves locking CELO and voting for a group in the Community RPC Provider elections. If the group elects an eligible provider, active voters may receive CELO epoch rewards. This process supports Celo’s RPC infrastructure rather than securing a separate Layer 1 consensus.

Rewards are allocated after eligible epochs, which normally process approximately once a day but may take longer. New votes must be activated in a subsequent epoch before they qualify. Voter rewards are added to the Locked CELO balance and continue participating automatically.

You can revoke your current vote and use the same Locked CELO to vote for another group without completing the unlocking process. To return CELO to your available wallet balance, revoke the vote, initiate the unlock and wait for the 3-day unlocking period before withdrawing. CELO stops receiving future voter rewards once it is no longer voting.

The Stakely validator on Celo has a commission of 0%. This commission is applied to the staking rewards, not to your staked principal. In practice, this means the commission is taken from the APR, not subtracted from it.

For example, if the network APR is 10% and the validator commission is 5%, the commission represents 5% of the rewards earned, which equals an effective reduction of 0.5% APR. Your final APR would be 9.5%, not 5%.

We keep validator commissions as low as possible to ensure strong performance, reliable infrastructure, and a sustainable operation over the long term.

Since March 26, 2025, Celo has operated as an Ethereum Layer 2 built on the OP Stack. It no longer maintains its own validator set for consensus. Celo benefits from Ethereum’s security, while Community RPC Providers operate decentralized access infrastructure for the network.

Celo does not set a minimum amount for holders who want to lock CELO and vote. However, you should keep enough CELO unlocked in your wallet to cover future network fees.

CELO is the native asset and default gas currency of Celo. It is also used for governance and Community RPC Provider elections. cUSD is a stablecoin designed to track the US dollar. Celo allows network fees to be paid with selected assets, including cUSD, but only CELO can be locked and used in provider elections.

Although voters’ Locked CELO is not exposed to slashing caused by provider behavior, participation still involves smart contract, wallet, governance, network and market risks. Rewards are variable and depend on vote activation, group election and the protocol’s current parameters.

Stakely participates in Celo’s Community RPC Provider system and operates professional node and RPC infrastructure. Unlike validators on the former Celo Layer 1, Community RPC Providers do not produce blocks or secure Celo’s consensus, which is inherited from Ethereum.