INTRODUCING | Opera Launches the MiniPay Stablecoin Wallet for African Users on the Celo Blockchain

Opera, the company behind the famed browser, Opera Mini, has announced the launch of MiniPay, a blockchain-based wallet built on the Celo blockchain.

According to Opera, MiniPay is directly integrated into the Opera Mini browser and will make it easier and more affordable for individuals across Africa to acquire and to send or receive stablecoins simply by using mobile phone numbers.

MiniPay is sad to be a collaboration between Opera and the Celo Foundation, enabling rapid wallet-to-wallet stablecoin transfers with fees below a cent using mobile phone numbers and fast onboarding with automatic wallet backup through Google.

According to Opera, the most common reason people lose their digital assets are the complexities around key management – forgetting the secret recovery phrase and passwords. By automatically backing up the user’s keys in their own Google Drive, MiniPay enables users to recover their wallet if they lose their phone or simply reinstall the app.

Opera is integrating with the top partners in the market supporting local payment methods such as Airtime, MPESA, 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.

MiniPay will also support Celo’s FiatConnect standard, which has a growing number of integrated partners and will further improve the Cash-In-Cash-Out experience globally.

“We are thrilled to unveil MiniPay, a cutting-edge partnership between Opera and the Celo Foundation that addresses existing concerns around how payments are made in the region. Users in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa have indicated that there are lingering concerns about high fees, unreliable service uptimes, a lack of transparency around transaction progress, and a lack of access to mobile data,” said Jørgen Arnesen, EVP Mobile at Opera.

“This partnership therefore represents a pivotal moment in the world of digital finance, with the ability to send, receive, and ultimately earn money in a permissionless way.”

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