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How to Buy and Sell Celo and cUSD on Local Exchanges in the Philippines

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February 9, 2021 — cLabs, the innovation arm of the Celo Foundation announced that CELO and Celo Dollars (cUSD) tokens will be available for trading through BloomX and will be listed on local exchange CoexStar, both of which are licensed virtual asset service providers in the Philippines. cLabs has confirmed to BitPinas the listing of its tokens CELO and cUSD on another local exchange in the first half of 2021.

Table of Contents.

About Celo

Celo is a blockchain-based platform that aims to make financial tools accessible to anyone with a mobile phone. cUSD is a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar used to transfer money easier and cheaper. CELO is a utility and governance token with a fixed supply and variable value. 

Backed by investors like PolyChain Capital and Andreesen Horowitz, Celo’s mission is to bring stable payments and remittances to the unbanked. It conducted a pilot testing in the Philippines, which allowed the cLabs team to recognize the importance of ensuring its blockchain-based mobile application (now called Valora) is usable even with just a basic smartphone. The pilot testing has validated Celo’s market in the Philippines for its remittance solution and has since onboarded partners including Beam and Go and 7-Eleven for gift cards.

It is for this reason that cLabs decided to list on local exchanges — to allow users with more direct ways to gain access to the ecosystem around cUSD and Celo. In a statement to BitPinas, Eric Cristobal, Ecosystem Lead at cLabs said the Philippine is becoming one of Celo’s strongest communities, and helping OFWs send remittances to their loved ones in their country is their way of helping Filipinos abroad. “The listings of Celo and Celo Dollars (cUSD) on local, licensed exchanges provides Filipinos more options like bank transfer, remittance center pick up and e-wallet transfer.”

Remarks from Local Exchanges

Both tokens will be available on BloomX’s direct trading service that can be accessed through Facebook Messenger, allowing anyone to obtain CELO and/or cUSD through BloomX with only a single government I.D. as the minimum requirement. According to Luis Buenaventura, Chief Strategy Office of BloomX, the Celo Foundation’s goal of establishing a cryptocurrency specifically for financial inclusion perfectly mirrors BloomX’s own mission. “We have long believed that there is a lot of space for innovation and optimization in the areas of money transfer and remittances,” Luis said in a statement.

“We are excited about the customer cost-savings as we grow $CUSD usage together in the Philippines,  and Bloom looks forward to several years worth of new apps, tools, and services built collaboratively with the Celo Foundation”

Luis Buenaventura, BloomX

According to a CoexStar official, the partnership with Celo has demonstrated the burgeoning virtual assets industry in the Philippines, the pandemic notwithstanding. “CoexStar and Celo have taken on the challenge of finding the best financial solution for all walks of life and it means that the Philippines is of the countries that are shortlisted to benefit from it.”

How to buy and sell CELO and cUSD using BloomX

Anyone who wishes to purchase or sell CELO and cUSD can go to BloomX’s Facebook page and inquirer through Messenger. There is no minimum or maximum amount but the minimum requirement is atleast one government ID.

How to sell Celo and cUSD to BloomX

  1. Go to BloomX’s Facebook Page
  2. Inquire that you want to sell CELO or cUSD
  3. BloomX will tell you its indicative rates
  4. If you accept, BloomX will ask you to send the CELO or cUSD to its address. 
  5. The user will receive Bloomx’s payment through GCash, PayMaya and bank accounts.

How to buy Celo and cUSD to BloomX

  1. Go to BloomX’s Facebook Page
  2. Inquire that you want to purchase CELO or cUSD
  3. BloomX will tell you its indicative rates
  4. If you accept, BloomX will ask for your CELO mobile number on Valora app or a valid wallet address where you will receive the tokens
  5. Once payment has been made, the CELO or cUSD will be on the user’s Valora app.

CELO and cUSD using CoexStar

Obtaining CELO and cUSD through CoexStar is just as a person would with any other cryptocurrency exchange. The only added benefit is that CoexStar is a licensed VASP and that it supports deposits from local banks and supports the local currency as well.

  1. Sign up with CoexStar
  2. Add funds
  3. Find the CELO/PHP or cUSD/PHP trading pair
  4. Exchange PHP for CELO or cUSD

What you can do with CELO and cUSD

On the Valora app, users can do the following with their CELO and cUSD tokens:

  1. Participate in the CELO Rewards program*
  2. Spend on Beam and Go and partner merchants*
  3. Transfer money to friends and love ones
  4. Cash out in the form of gift cards from partner shops like 7-Eleven, OTTO Shoes, Landmark, and Zalora

Celo Rewards Program

Users can get monthly rewards by saving cUSD in their Valora account.

  • $1 worth of CELO with a minimum balance of 20 cUSD
  • $5 worth of CELO with a minimum balance of 100 cUSD
  • $10 worth of CELO with a minimum balance of 500 cUSD

List of Merchants Accepting cUSD

To redeem cUSD in the stores listed below, purchase the voucher through the Beam&Go microsite, accessible on the Valora app or here.

(Updated as of Feb. 8, 2021)

National Capital Region

  • Super 8
  • Generika Drugstore
  • All Day Evia

Cebu

  • Prince Hypermart
  • Gaisano
  • SM Seaside

To verify the location, check CELO’s merchant map here.

With the availability of CELO and cUSD in local exchanges, obtaining them has become simpler than the previous process of going to international exchanges. cLabs intends to boost the adoption of the Valora app in the Philippines and as such, it is continuously onboarding partners to make it appealing to local users.

This article s first published on BitPinas: How to Buy and Sell Celo and cUSD on Local Exchanges in the Philippines

Please share and grow the BitPinas community.

Source: https://bitpinas.com/learn-how-to-guides/buy-sell-celo-cusd-philippines/

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