Exploring Celo’s Ethereum Layer 2 Architecture with Blockscout

Celo’s transition to an Ethereum Layer 2 built on the OP Stack is one of the most significant architectural evolutions in the ecosystem’s history. By aligning with Optimism’s modular, open-source framework, Celo brings its mission of mobile-first, regenerative finance directly into the growing Superchain of interconnected L2s.

Blockscout indexes Celo as a specialized OP Stack network, combining the familiar structure of Optimism L2s with Celo’s unique economic and governance model. For users, this means a seamless way to navigate transactions, accounts, contracts, bridging activity, and system-level flows. For developers, it provides an intuitive environment that matches other OP Stack explorers while exposing Celo’s extended data model.

Let’s take a look at some of the key features you can find on the Celo block explorer.

L1↔L2 Bridging Flows

Celo inherits the OP Stack’s standardized bridging architecture, enabling deposits and withdrawals between Ethereum and Celo L2. On Blockscout, you can follow every step of these cross-chain interactions, from deposit initiation to message finalization. Each transaction includes status updates, associated L1 events, and the complete lifecycle of the message as it moves across layers.

Rollup and System Contract Activity

As an OP Stack L2, Celo uses rollup-specific contracts for batching, settlement, and state transitions. Blockscout surfaces these interactions directly within the Transactions view, making it easy to trace how batches are processed and how system-level events influence the network.

Validator, Group, and Voter Economics

Celo’s validator elections and reward structures continue to operate on L2, with full transparency around how rewards are distributed and how stake flows through the ecosystem. Validator and group activity is visible through standard account and contract pages, with integrated reward and payout information.

Epochs: Celo’s Daily Rhythm, Fully Navigable

Epochs are central to how Celo organizes its economic and governance cycles. Each roughly once-per-day epoch includes validator set finalization, distribution of rewards, and replenishment of community and carbon funds.

On Blockscout, the Epochs dashboard provides a complete view of each cycle, including:

• Block ranges and timestamps
• Flow of CELO and cUSD into validator, group, and voter rewards
• Allocations to the Community Fund and Carbon Offset Fund
• Full payout breakdowns across all participants

Celo Account Indexing

Celo’s account system includes additional data beyond a typical EVM address. Blockscout indexes this information directly from Celo’s system contracts and displays it on account pages, making it easier to understand each address’s role in the network.

On the explorer, Celo accounts show:

• Whether the address is a regular account, validator, or validator group
• Locked CELO and non-voting locked CELO balances
• Any available account metadata, including human-readable names and metadata URLs

Here’s an example of a validator account showing its locked CELO and metadata: https://celo.blockscout.com/address/0x0861a61Bf679A30680510EcC238ee43B82C5e843

This indexing brings more of Celo’s native structure into Blockscout, giving users a deeper view of how each account participates in the network.

Dispute Games on Celo

Celo’s migration to the OP Stack brings with it Optimism’s architecture. Dispute games are a core component of the security model, enabling challenges to proposed state roots and providing a framework for resolving disagreements in the rollup.

On Blockscout, the Dispute Games view gives anyone the ability to explore:

• Active disputes, including current participants and game status
• Historical dispute games, for reviewing how past challenges were resolved
• Game-level details, such as root claims and move histories

This transparency allows users, developers, researchers, and node operators to inspect one of the most important security mechanisms of the OP Stack directly from the explorer.

Gas Payments in Multiple Currencies

Celo’s flexible gas model, supporting CELO, cUSD, and other assets, remains intact on L2. The block explorer simply surfaces the selected fee currency related to specific transactions.

For example, you can see it directly in the main Transactions table, where each entry displays the asset used to pay gas. For deeper detail, the individual transaction page shows the full breakdown, including gas used, fee token, and effective cost. You can also browse all transactions from an address and see the fee currency for each one in context.

This lets users easily track how gas is being paid across the network, whether in CELO or other supported ERC-20 assets.

Dapps on Celo: Explore and Interact Onchain

Blockscout includes a dedicated page for dapps on Celo that makes it easy to explore the growing L2 ecosystem. Each listing includes project details, user ratings, and direct onchain interaction so you can use dapps without leaving the explorer.

Categories help you navigate quickly, from DeFi and payments to bridges, wallets, and utilities, and every entry is designed to give you a safe, transparent way to discover new dapps on Celo. 

Blockscout also features a set of Essential Dapps, a simple toolkit built directly into the explorer to support everyday onchain activity. These tools let users swap tokens, move assets across chains, send tokens to multiple addresses, or manage wallet approvals. It’s all in one place and directly inside the explorer interface.

Essential Dapps are designed to make Celo safer and easier to use, especially for common DeFi and wallet-maintenance tasks.

Unified APIs for Builders Across Celo L2

Blockscout’s APIs give developers access to all indexed onchain data, including transactions, logs, token transfers, contract metadata, and account details. Builders can use these endpoints to query activity across Celo’s OP Stack architecture as well as Celo’s native features, all through the same standardized interface available in every Blockscout explorer.

Explore Celo with Blockscout

Celo’s shift to the OP Stack represents a major step toward a unified, modular Ethereum ecosystem. With full support for L1↔L2 messaging, rollup architecture, epoch cycles, validator structures, and Celo’s multi-asset economy, Blockscout offers the clearest and most complete window into the network.