BREAKDOWN: Why Crypto Matters for Financial Inclusion, Feat. Celo's Marek Olszewski
In a world of centralized mobile money solutions, do decentralized, permissionless currencies matter?
ABOUT
This episode is sponsored by ErisX, The Stellar Development Foundation and Grayscale Digital Large Cap Investment Fund.
In a world of centralized mobile money solutions, do decentralized, permissionless currencies matter?
Around the world, an estimated 1.7 billion people remain unbanked and lacking access to high quality financial services.
Some projects see cryptocurrency as an answer. In this episode of The Breakdown, NLW speaks with Celo co-founder Marek Olszewski about:
- How Celo was designed differently to address financial inclusion as a primary use case
- The problems with centralized approaches to mobile money like m-pesa
- Why true financial inclusions solutions must be permissionless
- Why technology design isn’t enough and projects that seek to gain adoption require ground up go to market strategies
- The impact of Libra’s launch on the “bank the unbanked” narrative
- How the COVID-19 crisis has changed the narrative around and demand for stablecoins globally
HOST
CoinDesk is the world leader in news, prices and information on bitcoin and other digital currencies.
We cover news and analysis on the trends, price movements, technologies, companies and people in the bitcoin and digital currency world.

EPISODES
The Blockspace Pod: How North Korean Hackers Stole $300M+ Via Telegram w/ Taylor Monahan
North Korean hackers with the Lazarus Group have stolen over $300 million with this Telegram phishing scam.
Jan 31, 2026
The Blockspace Pod: Understanding Thursday’s Market Meltdown
Markets across the board faced historic volatility yesterday, leaving many investors to ask: are we on the cusp of a ...
Jan 30, 2026
SEC and CFTC join forces to harmonize crypto leadership
Will the CFTC and SEC reach a 'united front'?
Jan 29, 2026

The Mining Pod
Feb 10, 2025

CoinDesk Podcast Network
The top stories and best shows in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk.
Dec 20, 2023

Markets Outlook
Tune in as CoinDesk runs down action in the crypto market and some of the most important recent industry development.
Dec 19, 2023

Unchained
Unchained, your no hype resource for all things crypto by former Forbes senior editor Laura Shin, author of The Cryptopians.
Dec 18, 2023
