TechFlow reports that on March 26, according to The Block, Celo—previously an independent Layer 1 blockchain—officially began its transition into an Ethereum Layer 2 network. This transformation started today on the mainnet, with Celo L1 block production suspended as the network formally migrates to a Layer 2 architecture.
The project's core development team, CLabs, first proposed transforming Celo from a Layer 1 into a Layer 2 chain back in July 2023. The move aims to integrate more closely with Ethereum, benefiting from its security and vast developer ecosystem, while addressing scalability and interoperability challenges previously faced by Celo as a standalone chain.
The Layer 2 implementation leverages OP Stack, Optimism’s customizable toolkit, meaning Celo now operates as an optimistic rollup. Following the transition, Celo gains native Ethereum bridging capabilities, and block times have been reduced from 5 seconds to 1 second.
