Celo Becomes First Payments-Focused Blockchain to Deploy Nightfall Privacy Layer for Enterprise Payments

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SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 1, 2025--

The Celo Foundation today announced the launch of Nightfall, an open-source, zero-knowledge privacy layer application built by EY and put into public domain, as a Layer 3 on the Celo network––marking the first payments-focused blockchain development of Nightfall. This integration enables private, enterprise-grade transactions, combining confidentiality with the benefits of public blockchain infrastructure, and positions Celo at the forefront of enterprise B2B payments, a sector expected to exceed $180T in cross-border flows.

With dominance in onchain P2P payments across 500K+ daily active users, $2B+ in monthly stablecoin volume, and users in more than 150 countries, Celo is uniquely placed to support secure, low-cost global payment solutions in both consumer and enterprise markets––particularly across emerging regions like Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

"Deploying Nightfall on Celo brings enterprise-grade privacy to the same mobile-first infrastructure that already supports millions of users globally," said Rene Reinsberg, Celo Co-Founder and Celo Foundation President. "With this Layer 3, Celo now offers a comprehensive solution for both individual and institutional payment needs in markets underserved by traditional financial infrastructure.”

Nightfall has been in development in the public domain since 2017. The latest iteration, Nightfall_4 (NF_4), leverages Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) technology to enable the private transfer of multiple token standards, including ERC-20, ERC-721, ERC-1155, and ERC-3525. Transactions are bundled using a ZK-ZK rollup, creating succinct and efficient blocks that maintain privacy without sacrificing scalability. This architecture also reduces blockchain transaction costs to approximately one-tenth of conventional transfers and eliminates the need for intermediaries.

By deploying Nightfall, Celo bridges the gap between enterprise confidentiality and public blockchain infrastructure—offering an auditable yet private platform for B2B payments, supply chain finance, and other high-value use cases.

Celo's mobile-first design, phone number-based addressing, and sub-cent fees make it uniquely suited for emerging markets and enterprise use cases requiring both privacy and accessibility. MiniPay, Opera’s stablecoin wallet built on Celo, has surpassed 10 million activated wallets and facilitated over 270 million transactions—demonstrating the network’s scalability and real-world utility.

Enterprises building on Celo can now conduct private B2B transactions using stablecoins such as native USDT and USDC, with support for gas fee abstraction in ERC-20 tokens. The Nightfall integration further solidifies Celo’s status as a leading Ethereum Layer-2 designed for inclusive, global finance.

Nightfall on Celo is live on testnet today. Technical documentation and developer resources are available for teams looking to build privacy-enabled applications. For more information about the integration, visit nightfall_4_CE/doc at master · EYBlockchain/nightfall_4_CE · GitHub.

About Celo Celo is an Ethereum Layer-2 and mobile-first blockchain network built for the real world and designed for fast, low-cost payments worldwide. The Celo ecosystem consists of a decentralized, proof-of-stake blockchain technology stack, the CELO native token, USDC and USDT (both enabled as gas currencies), several Mento stable assets (cUSD, cEUR, cREAL, eXOF), and popular infrastructure including Aave, Uniswap V3, Curve, Velodrome, and Chainlink. Launched on Earth Day in 2020, the open-source Celo mainnet supports a rich ecosystem of projects (1,000+) contributing to Celo's global mission of prosperity for all. For more about Celo, visit https://celo.org/.

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KEYWORD: SINGAPORE SOUTHEAST ASIA ASIA PACIFIC

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: TECHNOLOGY PAYMENTS FINANCE SECURITY FINTECH PROFESSIONAL SERVICES DIGITAL CASH MANAGEMENT/DIGITAL ASSETS BLOCKCHAIN CRYPTOCURRENCY

SOURCE: Celo Foundation

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PUB: 10/01/2025 01:03 AM/DISC: 10/01/2025 01:02 AM

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250930088197/en