Build with Local Stablecoins

Celo supports more than 30 fiat-referenced stablecoins: 7 USD-pegged assets, 26 pegged to regional currencies, and GoodDollar’s UBI token. Most chains give builders a dollar and little else. On Celo, a payments app in Nairobi can settle in KESm, a remittance corridor into Brazil can settle in BRLm, and neither has to route through a dollar first.

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Why Local Stablecoins Matter

• Price stability — unlike volatile cryptocurrencies, stablecoins hold a predictable value.
• Local denomination — users hold and spend in their own currency instead of converting to and from dollars.
• Low-cost transactions — sub-cent fees make small transfers and micropayments practical.
• Borderless access — send and receive globally without a bank account.
• Programmability — use them in smart contracts for lending, savings, payroll, and remittances.
• Onchain FX — swap directly between currency pairs through Mento.

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Mento Stablecoins

Mento is a decentralized stablecoin platform built on Celo. It issues 15 stablecoins that are algorithmically stabilized and backed by crypto collateral, spanning both major reserve currencies and local ones: Because Mento holds a diversified reserve, these assets can be swapped directly against one another — a Kenyan Shilling to West African CFA franc trade settles onchain without a dollar leg.

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Other Issuers

Alongside Mento, independent issuers have deployed stablecoins on Celo:

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Paying Gas in Stablecoins

Users don’t need to hold CELO to transact. Celo’s fee abstraction lets them pay gas in ERC20 tokens, and every Mento stablecoin plus USDC, USD₮ and USA₮ is on the allowlist — so a wallet holding only KESm can still send a transaction. See Fee Currencies for the current list.

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Next Steps