Yoni Ben Ami

Celo mainnet turned six this week. Worth saying out loud: most projects that launched around the same time aren't here anymore. Or they're here in name only. Celo isn't. It's growing. Most metrics are at or near ATHs. New builders keep showing up. There are many reasons but I think a big one - and maybe underappreciated one - are Celo's people and our culture. And I think a big part of why the culture is still here is because we wrote down our values early on and lived by them: unique purpose and connectedness. Each person has their own path worth pursuing. We exist most fully in connection with one another. From those two, everything else followed: autonomy with accountability, empathy, reflection, mutual support, kindness. A commitment to building for people marginalized by the existing financial system, not as a marketing line but as a logical consequence of the values themselves. These values have been guiding principles throughout all the ups and downs (and there've been many - ask your crypto friends) and these values survived all this time because Celo people choose to live by them, again and again, often when it would've been easier not to. So this one goes out to everyone who's put in the work: the core team past and present, the builders who kept shipping through every cycle, the community stewards, the many folks who hosted and showed up to Celo events irl and online, engaged in governance calls and on the Celo forum for years, often without asking for credit. Thank you. You all are the reason any of this still means anything. Happy birthday, Celo. Here's to the next six.