U.S. EIA refinery utilization rate for the week ending September 12

💫 While US dollar-backed stablecoins hold 90% market share in stablecoin transactions, the share of transactions directly using US dollars is 10%. The usage share of Euro-backed stablecoins is 1.1%.

Celo, as an innovative open-source payment network and Decentralized Finance ecosystem, is leading a new wave of blockchain technology with its unique advantages. First of all, Celo greatly enhances the user experience through an address-based encryption scheme. Users can directly use their phone numbers or email addresses as public keys, simplifying the traditional public key management process, making cryptocurrency payments as easy as sending a text message. Secondly, Celo has also made significant breakthroughs in performance. With the completion of the migration to Ethereum L2 in March 2025, Celo adopted the Optimism OP Stack architecture, reducing block time to 1 second while greatly lowering transaction fees. This improvement allows users to complete fast transactions at low costs even in regions with poor network conditions, such as Africa. Celo's stablecoin mechanism is also one of its highlights. cUSD adopts an innovative "algorithmic adjustment + over-collateralization" hybrid reserve model, where CELO tokens not only serve as governance tools but also as collateral for cUSD. This design creates a positive feedback loop that significantly enhances capital efficiency. In terms of financial inclusivity, Celo has built a unique ecosystem in regions such as Africa and Latin America. For example, in Kenya, the MiniPay wallet is expected to reach 20 million users by 2025, with transaction volumes projected to exceed $1.5 billion. Additionally, the GoodDollar protocol incubated by Celo disburses universal basic income through smart contracts, providing users with more stable purchasing power in certain high-inflation countries. Celo is also actively collaborating with regulatory agencies in various countries to explore the integration of stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). In the pilot project in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, cHKD and the digital RMB achieved real-time exchange through smart contracts, significantly reducing settlement costs. Finally, the developer friendliness of Celo is also worth mentioning. It is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), allowing developers to easily utilize existing Ethereum tools for development, which will undoubtedly attract more talent to participate in building the Celo ecosystem. In summary, Celo is bringing unprecedented changes to the global financial system through its innovative technology and design, especially demonstrating great potential in enhancing the accessibility and efficiency of financial services.

Compilation: Vernacular Blockchain Airdrops are no longer as generous as they used to be. But you can still make good money through them. For example, if you hold stablecoins, the yield from DeFi may be several times higher than that of fiat currency in traditional finance (TradFi). The key is to choose the right protocol for "farming". I have personally been heavily involved in airdrop farming for more than two years, and to this day I can still earn a considerable income from it, so I believe it is still worth it. Here are the 25 airdrop lists I am currently working on: Lighter Lighter is the first zero-fee perpetual contract decentralized trading platform (DEX) launched a few months ago, and it quickly became one of the fastest-growing perpetual DEXs. If I could only choose one airdrop to farm, I would choose Lighter. My strategy: I trade perpetual contracts on Lighter.

Recently, the Celo project has attracted widespread attention in the investment community. This mobile-first blockchain platform is uniquely reshaping the future of inclusive finance. Celo's core advantage lies in its innovative 'mobile-first stablecoin + light identity' model. This model not only lowers the entry barrier for users but also significantly enhances the efficiency and cost advantage of cross-border micro-payments. As Celo plans to migrate to Ethereum Layer 2 (based on OP Stack) in March 2025, its performance will be further improved, with block times expected to be reduced to around 1 second, while greatly lowering transaction fees, which will be a qualitative leap for mobile users and operations in low-network environments. Celo's stablecoin cUSD adopts a hybrid reserve model of 'algorithm + over-collateralization', where the CELO token serves both as a governance tool and as collateral. This design is expected to create a positive cycle of increased demand, token appreciation, and enhanced reserves, improving capital efficiency. In terms of practical applications, Celo is actively expanding into the African and Latin American markets, deeply integrating with local stablecoins, mobile wallets, merchant acquiring systems, and real-world assets (RWA) in high-frequency scenarios. This localization strategy is expected to drive rapid growth in its total value locked (TVL) and user base. It is worth mentioning that Celo has also made significant progress in terms of compliance. By increasing reserve transparency and discussing cross-border settlement solutions of 'stablecoin + CBDC' with central banks and regulatory agencies in various countries, Celo is actively reducing regulatory uncertainty. In addition, Celo has gained long-term support from well-known venture capital firms including A16Z, while attracting the deployment of mainstream DeFi protocols such as Aave. With the enhancement of its cross-chain interoperability capabilities, the application boundaries of Celo are expected to further expand. In summary, Celo is building a comprehensive solution that integrates a mobile-first global payment layer, localized stablecoins, and compliant reserves. This solution not only enables high-frequency applications in emerging markets but also possesses the scalability and risk resistance required for financial infrastructure. This is the key attraction for many venture capital institutions.

📍Short Report: Why are stablecoins on @0xPolygon and @Celo chosen in the Latam region? I looked for cause-and-effect relationships and came to the following conclusion: - Inflation causes a flight to stable assets such as cUSD, cREAL, USDC, and USDT. Stablecoins have become a tool for hedging, facilitating transfers, and financial inclusion. 80% of the total volume on CEX is stablecoins. Data: *USDT/USDC domination on CEX in Latam - Large transfers require cheap transfers, and Latam's lack of banking stimulates new affordable tools and solutions on the blockchain. - Polygon and Celo stand out due to their technical advantages: @0xPolygon offers low fees, high throughput, developed payment infrastructure, and compatibility with Ethereum, integration with local systems, and support for non-USD stablecoins, processing over $1B in CEX flows in 2025. Data: *Payments projects on Polygon based in Latam @Celo focuses on mobility with phone number-based wallets like @minipay, gasless transactions, and leadership in stablecoin volumes such as cUSD and cREAL, with a volume of $363m. Data: *cReal dominance on Celo in Brazil The region receives over $150b in remittances annually, where traditional systems have high fees, while stablecoins provide instant and cheap transfers, with 71% of crypto users using them for remittances and payments. About 70% of the population of Latam is unbanked, so stablecoins via mobile wallets provide access to savings and microloans. All these cause-and-effect relationships form a single vision, where residents of countries with unstable economies seek a way out in stablecoins, choosing the chains that are best suited for this purpose. Visualization: *Fireblocks company Data source: Polygon Payments - Latam CEX - Latam Stablecoins - #Payments