The blockchain project Celo and the Silicon Valley mobile payments team behind it, cLabs, have formed an alliance with over 50 heavy hitters. Rivaling that of the Facebook-led Libra Association.

Many investors and blockchain firms, including Anchorage, Coinbase Ventures, Bison Trails, Andreessen Horowitz, and just announced, cold storage crypto wallet Ledger are committed to promoting the Celo tokens by being part of this so-called “Alliance for Prosperity.”

In a statement released to the press, the founder of cLabs, Rene Reinsberg, said that:

“The Alliance will use blockchain technology to reimagine the future of money and create inclusive financial tools.

From sending money home across borders to donating to a humanitarian organization, we want to make sure that money arrives in the right hands – not in the pockets of a middleman.”

At the same time, the cLabs business development’s head, Chuck Kimble, was named as the head for Alliance for Prosperity’s. He said the plan is for Celo Gold tokens to be held by some members of the Alliance or for members to be network validators. Stablecoins need tremendous network effects in order to be included in the financial system.

[Related News: Celo Labs Hires Ex-DOJ and Capital One AML Expert To Lead Its Regulatory and Compliance Matters]

When the Libra Association started, Facebook had difficulties defining its official partners. Mastercard and Visa gave up on being Libra Association members in only a few months, but alliances among crypto startups aren’t something new.

For example, the Patientory Association, which was funded through a token sale in 2017 and conducted by both a nonprofit and a startup, charges members annual fees for participating at workshops on technical challenges and regulatory standards.

Alliance member and the CEO of Polychain Capital, Olaf Carlson-Wee thinks that:

“With the Alliance, we’ll see not just one mobile application for money transfers, but many applications for a variety of financial use cases.

To me, the Alliance proves that Celo is able to not only ship sophisticated, user-friendly products at global scale, but also empower member organizations to ship products on top of the Celo platform.”

Diogo Monica, the President of Anchorage said:

“We’re proud to work with a variety of organizations to create a more open and inclusive financial system.”

Among the rest of the high-profile partners for the Alliance, GiveDirectly, Carbon, Maple, Polychain, and Grameen Foundation are included.

Not all of the 50 Alliance members made as big of commitment towards backing the development efforts for the project or building its infrastructure. Not all decided to integrate Celo assets into all of their projects yet.

Furthermore, they haven’t collaborated on educational campaigns conducted in their communities in order to encourage the advancement of blockchain tech. What’s good to know is that the Celo network is open for new members that want to join, but you won't have to put up a minimum investment of $10 million or more, to be able to join, like Libra.

The alliance is just getting started, so the end result of how committed each member will be remains to be seen, but this will be an interesting project to keep an eye on.

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