Rene Reinsberg is the president and co-founder of the Celo Foundation and cLabs, creators of Celo, an Ethereum Layer 2 and mobile-first blockchain network designed for fast, low-cost payments globally. ^[1][2]

Education

Reinsberg earned his Master’s in Finance, Accounting, and Entrepreneurship from WHU- Otto Beisheim School of Management in 2006. He also spent semesters abroad at Korea University and NEOMA Business School and interned at McKinsey & Company in 2004. He later attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he met Marek Olszewski, and received his MBA in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from the Sloan School of Management in 2011. ^[3]

Career

After graduating from WHU, Reinsberg worked in Morgan Stanley's global capital markets department from July 2006 to September 2008. In January 2009, he was a consultant for The World Bank in Venezuela before attending MIT to earn his MBA. At MIT, he was a research & teaching assistant in Web3 and business sales classes. In May 2011, after graduating from MIT, Reinsberg and Olszewski co-founded Locu, an app helping local businesses manage their business listings for SEO and review sites, where he served as CEO. ^[4]

Two years later, GoDaddy acquired Locu, and he worked as the GM for their new product, Get Found, and also served as VP of Emerging Products. Reinsberg joined General Catalyst Partners as an entrepreneur in residence (EIR) in November 2016. A year later, he co-founded cLabs with Olszewski, where they developed the Celo L2 blockchain. In 2020, he became the president of the Celo Foundation. ^[4]

Celo

In an interview with the Green Pill Podcast, Reinsberg discussed Celo 2.0, ReFi summer, and the post-FTX landscape in DeFi. He started with some background on Celo: ^[5]

“We've been working on this for a little over five years, initially building on Ethereum and exploring how to use this powerful technology for greater good. Our goal was to help those without access to traditional financial services, inspired by ideas like Universal Basic Income and Charles Eisenstein’s writings. We aimed to create a financial system more aligned with environmental and societal goals. Through a series of experiments and ideas, we recognized a significant opportunity and decided to fork Ethereum, beginning to build out the various layers of our infrastructure.”

“There was everything from a wallet down to the core consensus layer. Celo was the first EVM chain to launch with proof-of-stake, and from the start, we used some of the rewards to make the chain carbon negative. We also considered various primitives to guide us towards a regenerative financial system. What was most surprising was the emergence of a strong community around Celo and the broader regenerative finance (ReFi) movement. This development has shifted how we view our work, focusing now on supporting the many great projects building on Celo.”

He then defined what ReFi meant and explained ReFi summer is for Celo: ^[5]

“To me, ReFi goes back to regenerative economics principles. Starting from the viewpoint that money is technology or software, as proven by Ethereum, we have a chance to reinvent the financial system. If we do that, we should address shortcomings in the traditional system, particularly with respect to externalities, focusing on the environment, communities, and financial inclusion. The current financial system often works in the opposite direction, so a ReFi approach aims to create positive externalities for the environment or underserved communities, achieving the most impact when these areas overlap.”

“I think you had Luke on the show recently, and the work he's doing with Colectivo really touches on the three pillars of impact. On one hand, there's massive climate impact through accurately pricing natural assets, like coral reefs and food forests on the island of Curacao. On another hand, it impacts the community by bringing these assets into the community as utilities and leveraging them for community currency. Lastly, it promotes financial inclusion by providing access to the financial system for people previously excluded, not necessarily due to a lack of a bank account but due to limited access to credit. This project is exciting because it connects these areas and offers a glimpse into a new financial system, where success is defined differently than today.”

When asked about when ReFi’s “big moment” might be, Reinsberg responded: ^[5]

“I think people have now heard of ReFi, at least in the Web3 space, and might be able to name a few projects, but the number of participants is still relatively low. For 2023, there are two key drivers that might change this. One is the integration of ReFi capabilities into popular Web3 applications, such as programmatic offsets on every transaction or impact staking, like what Spirals is doing. This could lead to broader adoption, where users can contribute to ReFi simply by using familiar platforms, like checking a box to allocate a small portion of a fee to a ReFi use case while making a swap on Uniswap.”

At the end of the interview, he discussed the aftereffects of FTX: ^[5]

“Let’s be honest, FTX has been a setback. Influencers and celebrities who shape public opinion have endorsed it, and what happened with FTX has created a different environment. If someone popular were to say that ReFi is cool and part of crypto or Web3, people might be skeptical, thinking about recent failures and fraud. I’ve been surprised that people who follow casually are distinguishing between institutional failures like FTX and what we're doing with permissioned infrastructure. It’s been positive not having to explain how FTX is different from our work to friends and family. However, it's still a setback, and I wonder what the most effective path to getting the word out will be. Our megaphones aren’t as big, so it may need to be a bottom-up approach, where people use cool applications and share their experiences to show the impact.”

Interviews

Celo AMA

In this Celo AMA, Markus Franke and Reinsberg discussed their work on Celo, a blockchain platform designed with a mobile-first approach to improve financial accessibility. They highlighted how Celo differentiates itself from other blockchains through its ultra-light client, which enables blockchain transactions on basic mobile devices. The discussion covered the broader blockchain landscape, including different consensus mechanisms and the challenges of integrating cryptocurrencies into traditional finance. They also addressed market dynamics and the impact of COVID-19 on digital asset adoption while explaining Celo's upcoming coin list auction and its open-source, decentralized model. ^[6]

Panels

Celo 2024

Reinsberg's presentation at CELO GATHER 2024 reflected on the blockchain industry's progress and the enduring relevance of early discussions. He highlighted Celo's commitment to a mobile-first approach and community-driven development, emphasizing the importance of addressing real-world needs through technology. Reinsberg discussed various impactful use cases, including mobile payments, humanitarian aid, and climate action. He outlined Celo's goal of reaching 25 million daily transactions by 2025 while maintaining low fees and fostering real-world adoption. The presentation also touched on the growth of Celo's ecosystem, including new stablecoins and the introduction of Bloom to support emerging projects. ^[7]

Unified Ethereum

At TOKEN2049 Dubai 2024, Reinsberg participated in the “Building a Unified Ethereum through Scaling” panel that discussed the future of Ethereum scaling, focusing on an aggregation layer to unify numerous app-specific chains and address fragmentation. Other participants included Joyce Yang of GCR, Sandeep Nailwal of Polygon, Alex Gluchowski of zkSync, and Sandy Peng from Scroll. They explored how projects like Scroll and Celo navigate their transitions to Layer 2 solutions, aiming to enhance stability, user experience, and scalability. The conversation also touched on the distinct missions of various Layer 2 projects, the evolving role of Layer 3 solutions, and the need for further experimentation and interoperability to improve the overall ecosystem. ^[8]

Regenerative Finance (ReFi)

At Tech Open Air (TOA) 2023, Reinsberg presented how Web3 technologies can drive positive change through regenerative finance (ReFi) despite their often negative public perception. He highlighted how ReFi aims to create financial systems that support environmental and community well-being. Reinsberg provided examples of Web3 applications in practice, such as using NFTs for plastic offset, implementing universal basic income via blockchain, and supporting community currencies in Kenya. He discussed innovative financial models enabled by Web3, including dynamic NFTs for rewarding positive actions and tokenized carbon credits. He envisioned a future where Web3 technologies operate behind the scenes, making their benefits more accessible and integrated into everyday systems. ^[9]

Onboarding New Web3 Users

At SmartCon 2023, Reinsberg highlighted Celo’s recent achievements and ongoing initiatives to expand Web3 access. He discussed the platform’s significant growth, emphasizing its scalability, fast transaction finality, and user-friendly features like phone number-based transactions. Reinsberg showcased practical applications, such as the Valora wallet and Opera Mini Pay, simplifying Web3 interactions for everyday users. He also highlighted projects leveraging Celo for environmental and community-focused initiatives, stressing the need for effective storytelling and impactful development to onboard a billion users. ^[10]