AFRICA TECH SUMMIT 2025 | MiniPay Wins Web3 Award as it Surpasses 5 Million Activations in the Global South

BitKE · 2026-02-09T18:33:51+00:00

MiniPay, a stablecoin wallet by Opera on the Celo blockchain, won the Web3 award at the Africa Tech Summit. It enables instant transactions with phone numbers and supports local payment methods. Launched in September 2023, it boasts 4.8 million users.

BitKE

2026-02-09 18:33:51

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MiniPay, the stablecoin wallet platform owned by Opera and built on the Celo blockchain, won the Web3 award at the Africa Tech Summit, which concluded on February 13 2025.

The platform secured the award ahead of other shortlisted companies, including ICP Hub, Investa Farm, Sabi, and Yellow Card.

Spanning 11 categories, the awards recognize African companies leveraging technology to address challenges unique to the continent.

MiniPay is a stablecoin wallet with a built-in Mini App discovery page, integrated directly within the popular Opera Mini Android browser and also available as a standalone application on Android, with an iOS version expected soon.

The app allows users to send and receive money instantly via phone numbers, making financial transactions seamless and accessible even in areas with limited banking infrastructure.

Key features of MiniPay:

Phone Number mapping: Uses mobile phone numbers as wallet addresses
Fast, Low-Cost Transactions: Offers fast P2P stablecoin transactions with sub-cent fees
Lightweight Design: At just 2MB, users can use the wallet with limited data

The product supports various local payment methods such as airtime, M-PESA, bank transfer, or cards. MiniPay is a non-custodial wallet, which means that it doesn’t touch any traditional banking rails and relies on local partners so users can add and withdraw stablecoins from their wallet into their local currency.

It also includes a built-in app discovery page, allowing users to interact with selected mini apps directly within their wallet, without needing to switch to other platforms.

Since its launch in September 2023, MiniPay has grown to 4.8 million users, according to a December 2024 update. BitKE reached out to determine how many of those users are in Africa, but MiniPay has declined to disclose this figure.

However, the team indicates it is the fastest-growing non-custodial wallet in the Global South – accounting for 25% of new USDT addresses in Q4 2024 and over 5 million activations.

CELO1.49%

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