Celo Prepares for Major Isthmus Hardfork and L2 Boost

• Celo will launch the Isthmus hardfork today, bringing key Ethereum EIP and OP Stack upgrades.
• The upgrade will include EigenDA v2 integration to enhance L2 scalability and data handling.

Celo has been attracting a lot of attention today, as its hardfork, Isthmus, will officially launch on its mainnet on Wednesday, July 9th, at 3:00 PM UTC. This hardfork is a crucial milestone that solidifies Celo’s position as an agile, cost-effective Ethereum Layer 2, closer to today’s Ethereum infrastructure. And yes, it’s also part of the preparations for integration into the modern data availability (DA) system via EigenDA version 2.

🚨 The Celo Mainnet Isthmus hardfork is scheduled for Wednesday, July 9 at 15:00 UTC.

🔧 Node operators: please upgrade your clients ahead of time.

📄 Upgrade details, versions, and resources →

— cLabs (@cLabs) July 7, 2025

Celo Sharpens Its Edge With Faster Blocks and Native Bridges

Looking back, Celo’s migration to Layer 2 was actually completed last March. The changes were immediately noticeable in terms of performance: block times were drastically reduced from 5 seconds to just 1 second.

Not to mention the cross-chain bridging feature, which now runs directly on Ethereum natively, without having to go through a third party. For those accustomed to fast and cheap transactions, this is certainly exciting news.

Now, Isthmus isn’t just about block times or bridges. This hardfork also incorporates features from the Ethereum Prague (aka Pectra) upgrade, such as EIP-7702, 2537, 2935, and 7623. Essentially, Celo is aligning itself with Ethereum’s latest developments—without losing its trademark lightweight and user-friendly network.

Another interesting technical addition is the introduction of the L2 Withdrawals Root in the block header, which makes withdrawals from from Layer 2 to Layer 1 simpler and more secure.

Making Gas Cheaper and Wallets Smarter Across 110+ Countries

Furthermore, last April, Celo and Bando—a popular crypto wallet app in developing countries—announced that Bando users can now purchase phone credit and gift cards directly from their crypto wallet balances. This feature is widely available: more than 110 countries can use it. And because it’s been optimized with Optimism rollups, transactions are much smoother without burning a hole in your wallet due to gas fees.

Furthermore, the Isthmus hardfork also activates the Holocene hardfork component, which makes gas management on the network more flexible.

This benefits both developers and users. For node operators, there’s certainly important homework: they must update their software to the latest versions (op-geth v2.1.0, op-node v2.1.0, and EigenDA proxy v1.8.2). If they forget, their nodes could miss blocks after the hardfork.

Meanwhile, major exchanges are also on alert. At 14:00 UTC, one hour before the hardfork, $CELO token deposits and withdrawals will be temporarily suspended. But don’t worry, trading activity will continue as usual. Once the network stabilizes, these services will reopen.

It’s not just technology that’s moving. The $CELO token price is also rising. At the time of writing, $CELO is trading at about $0.3223—up 8.46% in the last 24 hours. The daily transaction volume also increased drastically by more than 100%, reaching $96.48 million.