Last week, Celsius announced that it will integrate Chainlink Proof of Reserve (PoR) as a key piece of infrastructure for its new DeFi engineering arm, CelsiusX. PoR will advance Celsius’ vision of a multi-chain CeDeFi future by enabling the trustless, transparent minting of wrapped digital assets without the need for a centralized third party.
During a recent fireside chat hosted by Chainlink Plugged-In at The LAB Miami, Chief Architect of Celsius Network and head of CelsiusX, Carl Hua, talked to Seena Foroutan from Chainlink Labs about Celsius’ plans to become one of the first platforms to integrate Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) – and how Hua’s own career shift from rocket science to blockchain technology mirrors the traditional financial industry’s pivot toward interoperating with the fast-moving DeFi space.
“I quit my job at NASA because it was too slow,” Hua said. Initially inspired by Bitcoin’s visionary source code, he was ultimately galvanized by Ethereum’s revolutionary smart contract capability.
The same energy is powering Celsius’ move from centralized platform to multi-chain liquidity bridge.
The aim of CelsiusX, Hua explained, is to facilitate a frictionless, interoperable ecosystem that upholds DeFi’s high yield by enabling small retailers to transact with large institutions without any middlemen.
This “multidimensional effort,” he explained, requires decentralized infrastructure like Chainlink Price Feeds, which Celsius previously integrated for accurate price data even during times of high market volatility.
By minting 1:1 wrapped assets that are publicly auditable on a minute-to-minute basis, Chainlink PoR will allow holders of digital assets without native smart contract capability, such as DOGE, to participate in DeFi without the need for centralized intermediaries.
Hua believes Chainlink’s role in advancing DeFi at breakneck speed – first with price feeds, then PoR, and eventually CCIP – is all about “seeing the problem before it becomes too big of a problem.” In his view, CCIP will solve the industry’s next pressing issue by enabling digital asset fungibility and cross-chain smart contracts.
“We anticipate that when CCIP goes online, we’ll see a massive adoption of cross-chain liquidity,” he said.
He predicted that, within a few years, Chainlink’s blockchain-agnostic infrastructure will allow Celsius to advance DeFi to a place where users will no longer have to worry about what chain their assets are on.
“I think what Celsius is really interested in is to enable the entire community to participate in these ecosystems,” he said. “I think that’s a key to success in this industry.”
Watch Carl Hua’s fireside chat with Seena Foroutan.