- MiniPay empowers rapid stablecoin transfers
across Africa for a best-in-class
mobile payment experience, combining the convenience of Web2 with
the power of Web3
- Since MiniPay is built directly into Opera Mini,
Opera's popular mobile browser, millions of users throughout
Africa will be introduced to the
benefits of stablecoin payments & Celo's
decentralized applications
(dApps)
- MiniPay's rollout begins in Nigeria, and will expand to Kenya, Ghana,
South Africa, and beyond in the
coming months
OSLO,
Norway, Sept. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Opera, a
global web innovator, unveils MiniPay – a blockchain-based wallet
built on the Celo blockchain. Directly integrated into the Opera
Mini1 browser, MiniPay makes it easier and more
affordable for individuals across Africa to acquire and to send or receive
stablecoins – simply by using mobile phone numbers. Leveraging the
unique benefits of Celo's mobile-first infrastructure, Opera is
setting a new standard in the consumer-grade wallet experience,
with an initial focus on rapid and seamless P2P
stablecoin payments.
Introducing MiniPay: Empowerment Through Innovation
Opera designed and built MiniPay in collaboration with the Celo
Foundation, enabling rapid wallet-to-wallet stablecoin
transfers with sub-cent fees using mobile phone numbers and fast
onboarding with automatic wallet backup through Google. All, while
addressing some of the key barriers allowing for a seamless Web2 to
Web3 journey for users looking for a more reliable way to store and
send funds using stablecoins.
With an easy onboarding process using Google credentials,
MiniPay ensures that every user experiences prompt digital asset
transfers and a smooth introduction to Web3 transactions. In
contrast, many non-custodial wallets require users to be
crypto-savvy. The most common reason people lose their
digital assets are the complexities around key management –
forgetting the secret recovery phrase and passwords. MiniPay's goal
is to make decentralized wallets intuitive so that
users of all experience levels can transact. 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. The wallet's foundation is built on
speed, reliability, and financial inclusivity, making it an
indispensable tool for users across Africa.
Opera brings simplicity to this by 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.
Opera and Celo: A Vision for Financial Inclusion and
Empowerment
As a key steward of the Celo ecosystem, the Celo Foundation is
dedicated to bringing affordable and accessible DeFi
to mobile users around the world. This and Opera's focus on
improving access to the digital world are a joint vision the two
organizations share. Opera emerged as a tech pioneer in the African
market more than 17 years ago, unveiling its unique data-saving
technology through Opera Mini. Now one of the most popular apps and
well-known brands in Africa, Opera
counts over 100 million users across the continent. By integrating
MiniPay into the Opera Mini browser, new and existing users will be
able to experience fast and transparent transactions on the Celo
blockchain, and be introduced to dApps and projects
built on the Celo network.
"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
indicated2 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.
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," said Jørgen
Arnesen, EVP Mobile at Opera.
The Celo blockchain first launched on Earth Day 2020 with the
mission of fostering a thriving collective of active builders,
developers, founders, and community members committed to blockchain
technology's positive impact. With over 1,000 global projects in
more than 150 countries, the Celo blockchain is carbon-negative and
mobile-first, with many enterprise and institutional partners
including Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, and many more.
Additionally, Celo's core technical features, on top of which
MiniPay is built, include:
- Sub-cent transaction fees (and the ability to pay for fees
using stablecoins
- Fast transaction speed with 5-second settlement in seconds
- Seamless access to Celo's rich ecosystem of 1,000+
dApps, from locally-focused UBI (e.g., impactMarket)
to global decentralized finance (DeFi)
blue chips (e.g., Uniswap)
- Celo's mobile-first compatibility with SocialConnect (a
privacy-first naming service protocol that maps wallets to mobile
phone numbers) and FiatConnect (an open on-/off-ramp API standard
that facilitates Cash-In-Cash-Out integrations.
- Tapping into Celo's vibrant African community, with a strong
focus on regenerative finance (ReFi), grown since mainnet launched
on Earth Day 2020
"Few companies have the global footprint, local insight, and
technical capabilities that Opera brings to the Celo ecosystem; I
am excited to work even more closely with their team on what I see
as a key building block to help realize Celo's mission at scale,"
said Rene Reinsberg, Celo Co-Founder
and Celo Foundation President. "By integrating the non-custodial
MiniPay wallet directly into the popular Opera Mini browser, new
and existing users will access a truly seamless experience with
fast, transparent transactions on the Celo blockchain and be
introduced to dApps and projects built on Celo that
provide meaningful benefits for people in their everyday
lives––this is the 'killer' use case the Web3 industry has been
waiting for."
Building for MiniPay
Following a vote by the Celo community in July to migrate from a
Layer-1 blockchain to an Ethereum Layer-2, the Celo
network will undergo technical upgrades to see increased security
and scalability while maintaining low gas fees, bringing more
real-world use cases to the Ethereum community. This
technical migration, led by the Celo community and core
contributors, including cLabs, opens the door for even more
Ethereum-compatible dApps to be built for
MiniPay, reimagining the future of on-chain finance for community
advancement and inclusion in the new digital economy.
MiniPay will become available to Opera Mini users across
Africa within the coming months,
first launching in Nigeria.
About Opera Mini
Launched in 2006, Opera Mini is a small, fast, and powerful
browser. It comes with unique features such as Data Compression,
Offline File Sharing, and a built-in ad-blocker. Today, Opera Mini
is used by millions of people who chose it over the pre-installed
browsers on Android mobile devices. Opera Mini has a 4.3 star
rating on Google Play and has been reviewed by more than eight
million people worldwide.
About Opera
Opera is a web innovator building on more than 25 years of
innovation that started with the Opera web browser. While Opera is
leveraging its brand and engaged user base in order to grow and
develop new products and services for people who seek a better
internet experience, Opera's PC and mobile web browsers, content
discovery platform Opera News, and apps dedicated to gaming, Web3
and e-commerce are already the trusted choices of hundreds of
millions of active and engaged users. Opera is headquartered in
Oslo, Norway, and listed on the
NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the OPRA ticker symbol. Download and
access Opera's products and services from www.opera.com.
About Celo
Celo is a carbon-negative, emerging Ethereum
layer-2 blockchain with a rich ecosystem of global partners
building innovative Web3 applications within the DeFi,
ReFi, and NFT sectors on Celo. Accessible to anyone with a mobile
phone, the Celo ecosystem consists of a decentralized,
proof-of-stake blockchain technology stack (the Celo Platform), the
CELO native token, and several Mento stable assets (cUSD, cEUR,
cREAL) that enable anyone to use digital assets. Launched on Earth
Day in 2020, the open-source Celo mainnet supports 1,000+ projects
by developers and creators located around the world.
About the Celo Foundation
The Celo Foundation was founded to support the growth and
development of the decentralized, open-source,
mobile-first Celo platform to help build a regenerative financial
system that creates the conditions of prosperity for all. The
Foundation is guided by the Celo community tenets and contributes
to education, technical research, environmental health, community
engagement, and ecosystem outreach—activities that support and
encourage an inclusive financial system. For more about Celo, visit
https://celo.org/.
1 MiniPay is a wallet built on the Celo blockchain
and offered by Opera Group company Blueboard Limited (herein,
"Opera"). Opera does not provide investment or any other financial
advice of any kind. Purchasing crypto assets, as well
as investments and lending linked to crypto assets,
involves significant risk. When investing in
cryptocurrencies, you risk losing your entire
investment. Please consider whether trading and owning
cryptocurrencies is appropriate for your financial
situation.
2 Research conducted by Opera via Pollfish and
Sparrow in July 2023. The total
number of respondents from South
Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria is over 5700.
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SOURCE Opera Limited