Opera Minipay, the payment platform offered by the innovative global web company Opera, has reached a milestone of one million users in the Nigerian, Kenyan, and Ghanaian markets.
The Africa Money and DeFi Summit, happening from February 14th to the 15th in Nairobi, Kenya, marked this important milestone today, which was made possible with the help of Celo and Mento Labs.
For Android users, the Opera Mini browser now has Opera MiniPay, a self-custodial dollar stablecoin wallet built on the Celi blockchain.
Users can take advantage of the platform’s special features to send and receive money quickly and cheaply via mobile phone. With MiniPay integrated into Opera Mini, Celo and Mento Labs want to make financial tools accessible and bring millions of users to Web3 in Africa.
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How Opera MiniPay makes payment easier
With the goal of giving Africans a simple way to save money and make transactions in dollars without going through any tedious process, Opera MiniPay, a stablecoin wallet built by Opera on the Celo blockchain, was launched in September 2023. There is an opportunity for users to make money on the platform as well.
With the help of decentralised finance (DeFi), MiniPay aims to bring millions of African users onto the Web3 platform and make financial tools more accessible. Through its stablecoin wallet that is integrated into the Opera Mini browser, MiniPay facilitates quick, easy, and inexpensive payments. With plans to expand into South Africa and beyond, MiniPay is now live in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya, offering sub-cent fees through the Celo network.
Through the Celo Foundation, the company’s goal is to make DeFi available and affordable to mobile users all over the globe in order to facilitate permissionless payment. The currency situation in Africa is quite precarious. The South African Rand, one of the most powerful currencies in the continent, is still ranked among the most undervalued in the world. When it comes to digital asset storage and transfer, Opera thinks its solution offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to provide a more secure option.
Developed by Opera and the Celo Foundation, MiniPay facilitates low-cost, instantaneous transfers of funds between digital wallets via mobile phone numbers and simple onboarding and key backup via Google. A stable asset on the Mento Protocol that tracks the US Dollar (USD) value, cUSD, was integrated into on-ramp solutions with the help of Celo’s strong network of FiatConnect partners, including Fonbnk and Bitmama.
By eliminating the need for the “Connect Wallet” button that is standard on many cryptocurrency user interfaces and providing a straightforward user experience, this wallet makes it easy for users of all skill levels to safely and quickly transfer digital assets for everyday use. With a size of only 68 megabytes, it is one of the smallest Web3 wallets; Coinbase Wallet is 194 megabytes. The interface is simple, and the process is frictionless. Users in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya were the first to get the update, and it works with a tonne of low-powered mobile devices.
One million users in Africa have used Opera MiniPay. 5 months subsequent to its debut
According to Jørgen Arnesen, the Executive Vice President of Mobile at Opera, users in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya have expressed dissatisfaction with their current payment solutions due to issues such as high fees, unpredictable service uptimes, a lack of visibility into the progress of transactions, and limited mobile data access, even when they are satisfied with their current solutions.
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About the Partnership
The three companies—MiniPay, Celo, and Mento Labs—have joined forces with the goal of bringing financial inclusion and economic stability to Africa.
One of the many benefits of the Mento decentralised cUSD (Celo Dollar) stablecoins is that they are a dependable store of value and a hedge against currency volatility. These coins are part of the MiniPay ecosystem. Stablecoins provide a decentralised and easily accessible alternative to conventional financial services, which is particularly important in areas hit by hyperinflation and economic instability.