Opera, a global web innovator, has announced that its payment platform, Opera MiniPay, has surpassed 1 million users across its markets in Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana.
The milestone, which comes just 5 months after MiniPay’s introduction in September 2023, was celebrated at the Africa Tech Summit, held on February 14-15 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Happening now! "Onboarding Millions of Users Across Africa to Web3"
Panel discussions w/@ivcelo (Celo Foundation), @MarkusMento (@MentoLabs), and Tosin Onikosi (@opera) mod. by @felixmacharia_ (@kotanipay) on the Moniepoint stage at @AfricaTechSMT! #ATSNBO pic.twitter.com/GpvZKQ9sqE
— Celo 🦇 🌳 (@Celo) February 14, 2024
MiniPay is defined as a self-custodial dollar stablecoin wallet seamlessly integrated into the Opera Mini browser for Android users and built on the Celo blockchain. MiniPay empowers users to save, send, and receive funds instantly on their mobile phones with very low transaction fees.
MiniPay is also being promoted by Celo and Mento Labs who are providing accessible financial tools through MiniPay embedded in Opera Mini.
According to Opera, MiniPay enables rapid wallet-to-wallet stablecoin transfers with fees below a cent using mobile phone numbers and fast onboarding with automatic wallet backup through Google.
“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 cUSD stablecoins – simply by using mobile phone numbers,” said Charles Hamel, Product Director, MiniPay.
Moreover, since the most common reason people lose their digital assets involves 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.
At launch, Opera said it is integrating with the top partners in the market supporting 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.
MiniPay is currently live in Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana, with plans for expansion into South Africa, and more.
NB: BitKE reached out to MiniPay to confirm the number of users in Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. MiniPay declined to mention how many users they have in each jurisdiction.
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