Celo Foundation Announces the Launch of Dango Layer-2 Testnet

The Celo Foundation is thrilled to announce the successful launch of the Dango Layer-2 testnet, marking a significant milestone in cLabs’ efforts to integrate Celo’s blockchain with Ethereum. The launch invites developers to start testing the updated code on this new fork of the Alfajores testnet.

Dango Layer-2: A New Era for Celo

The Dango testnet, first proposed during EthCC 2023, allows developers to transition their projects to this updated blockchain iteration designed for fast and low-cost global payments. This launch preserves all historical data from the Alfajores testnet, including smart contracts, accounts, and balances. Built on Optimism’s OP Stack, Dango maintains the benefits of Celo’s Layer 1 while leveraging a highly scalable and interoperable blockchain framework.

Following strategic support from the Eigen Foundation and community backing, Dango uses EigenDA as a data availability layer to keep transaction fees minimal. The Layer-2 architecture aims to maintain low transaction costs and enhance throughput by 50%, decreasing block time from 5 seconds to 2 seconds.

Dango Layer-2 offers several key features, including the bridging of WETH and ERC-20 tokens for seamless transfers between Ethereum and Celo and maintains 1-block finality for swift and secure transactions. It supports CELO token duality, allowing interaction with CELO natively or via the ERC20 interface, and fee abstraction, which permits multiple ERC-20 tokens as gas currencies, including Celo-native $USDT and $USDC. SocialConnect enables sending money to phone numbers, email addresses, or other social identifiers, while low gas fees ensure greater accessibility and adoption of crypto worldwide.

Infrastructure Upgrades and Next Steps for Celo Layer-2 Mainnet Launch

With the launch of Dango, infrastructure providers are now upgrading their Layer-2 node code. Once all key providers have updated to support the new design, Alfajores will be upgraded without creating a new fork, allowing developers to test their end-user dApps without impacting user-facing applications.

The successful completion of this milestone ahead of the summer 2024 schedule sets the stage for the anticipated Celo Layer-2 mainnet launch in early winter 2024. The Celo Foundation and cLabs remain committed to driving innovation and enhancing the blockchain ecosystem, ensuring a seamless transition and robust growth for developers and users alike.