Opera MiniPay Reaches a Milestone of 1 million users in Africa

Opera, a pioneer in the global web, has announced that one million users have accessed its payment platform, Opera Minipay, across its markets in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria.

This important milestone was celebrated today at the Africa Money and DeFi Summit, which is being held in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, on February 14–15. Celo and Mento Labs provided support for this endeavor.

Based on the Celi blockchain, Opera MiniPay is a self-custodial dollar stablecoin wallet that is seamlessly integrated into the Opera Mini browser for Android users.

What is Opera MiniPay?

With the platform’s special features, users can save, sense, and receive money right away on their phone for incredibly low transaction costs. Through MiniPay integrated into Opera Mini, Celo and Mento Labs hope to onboard millions of users to Web3 throughout Africa. This will enable them to provide accessible financial tools.

Built on the Celo blockchain, MiniPay is a self-custodial dollar stablecoin wallet that is seamlessly integrated into the Opera Mini browser for Android users.

With incredibly low transaction costs, MiniPay enables users to send, receive, and save money on their smartphones instantly.

“The MiniPay wallet has been designed to be intuitive for users of all experience levels to reap the benefits that decentralized finance can bring.

Via a familiar Web2 experience, MiniPay makes it easier and more affordable for individuals across Africa to acquire, send, and receive Mento USDstablecoins— simply by using mobile phone numbers,” said Charles Hamel, Product Director, MiniPay.

MiniPay is also being promoted by Celo and Mento Labs, who are providing accessible financial tools through MiniPay embedded in Opera Mini. Opera, in collaboration with the Celo Foundation, designed and built MiniPay, which offers instant wallet-to-wallet fund transfers with minimal fees using mobile phone numbers, easy onboarding, and key backup through Google. 

Celo’s extensive network of FiatConnect partners, including Fonbnk and Bitmama, facilitated the integration of cUSD, a stable asset on the Mento Protocol that tracks the US dollar (USD), for on-ramp solutions.

What Minipay Is Capable Of

This user-friendly wallet abstracts the “Connect Wallet” button that is present in many crypto interfaces and offers an intuitive user journey that makes it possible for users of all skill levels to transfer digital assets quickly and efficiently for daily use.

The wallet is one of the smallest in Web3 (Coinbase Wallet is 194 megabytes, while MetaMask is 68 megabytes) and is straightforward and frictionless. It was initially made available to Opera Mini users in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. It works with a wide variety of low-end mobile devices.

MiniPay, according to Opera, facilitates quick onboarding with automatic wallet backup via Google and quick wallet-to-wallet stablecoin transfers with fees under one cent using mobile phone numbers. Additionally, the platform gives users the option to make money.