The Kenyan Sarafu Network Transitioning to Celo Blockchain with About 20,000 Token Holders

Grassroots Economics (GE), the non-profit organization behind the community inclusion currency (CIC) model in Africa, and the Sarafu Network and token, has decided to host its network on the Celo blockchain.

Previously, the Sarafu platform ran on its (Kitabu) blockchain where communities could launch their own community inclusion currencies (CIC’s) without needing the internet or users to pay gas fees.

According to GE, CICs are regional means of exchange that are derived from vouchers and supplement gaps in the national currency system. Due to economic instability, people often lack money with which to purchase from each other but communities can build their own prospering economies backed by locally available goods.

Reasons for Selecting Celo

Celo has an existing and thriving ecosystem in Kenya and GE envisions easily getting marketing support and open source contributions from the community.

Celo is also supporting GE in building capacity as a validator node for the Celo blockchain in an arrangement that will cover its gas costs making it possible for users of the Sarafu Network to continue accessing the service for free.

“We’ve been asking chains to help us with running and/or staking on a validation node, for years, so that we can guarantee gas to users. This is the first time a public chain has accepted our request to become part of their infrastructure and offer free services to marginalized communities as a humanitarian solution and means that we can be part of the Celo community of service providers.” – Grassroots Economics

GE is also drawn to the CELO ecosystem due to its compatibility with the Ethereum system, humanitarian values, and significant on-chain liquidity which it may access to support the Sarafu Network.

Following the integration, GE promises several benefits to CIC users across Kenya, Cameroon, and South Africa:

• Smooth Migration – No interruption to service
• Migrating Voucher Contracts to Celo and repopulating balances of users on Celo
• Improved UX/UI – Developing better user interfaces using marketplaces, open-source wallets, and bots. Users will be able to move off USSD/SMS onto other EVM wallets
• Connecting dApps – Example is; some voucher issuers and buyers want there to be insurance in case of defaults

The non-profit organization is also dismissing claims that it is selling out by moving over to Celo, pointing out that, in the long term, the network will have enough stake and be an independent validator which will be due, in part, to Celo’s support.