MiniPay, the stablecoin wallet platform owned by Opera and built on the Celo blockchain, won the Web3 award at the Africa Tech Summit, which concluded on February 13 2025.
The platform secured the award ahead of other shortlisted companies, including ICP Hub, Investa Farm, Sabi, and Yellow Card.
FUNDING | Leading African Stablecoin On/Off Ramp, Yellow Card, Closes $33M Series C Funding
The round, led by Blockchain Capital, brings Yellow Card to $85 million in completed equity financings up to date.https://t.co/1DQTruhGyO @yellowcard_app pic.twitter.com/1OBP0En3YV
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) October 17, 2024
Spanning 11 categories, the awards recognize African companies leveraging technology to address challenges unique to the continent.
MiniPay is a stablecoin wallet with a built-in Mini App discovery page, integrated directly within the popular Opera Mini Android browser and also available as a standalone application on Android, with an iOS version expected soon.
INTRODUCING | #Opera Launches the MiniPay Stablecoin Wallet for African Users on the #Celo Blockchain #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… pic.twitter.com/JE36GMqL3G
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) September 20, 2023
The app allows users to send and receive money instantly via phone numbers, making financial transactions seamless and accessible even in areas with limited banking infrastructure.
Key features of MiniPay:
- Phone Number mapping: Uses mobile phone numbers as wallet addresses
- Fast, Low-Cost Transactions: Offers fast P2P stablecoin transactions with sub-cent fees
- Lightweight Design: At just 2MB, users can use the wallet with limited data
The product supports various 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.
It also includes a built-in app discovery page, allowing users to interact with selected mini apps directly within their wallet, without needing to switch to other platforms.
Since its launch in September 2023, MiniPay has grown to 4.8 million users, according to a December 2024 update. BitKE reached out to determine how many of those users are in Africa, but MiniPay has declined to disclose this figure.
INTRODUCING | #Opera Launches the MiniPay Stablecoin Wallet for African Users on the #Celo Blockchain #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… pic.twitter.com/JE36GMqL3G
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) September 20, 2023
However, the team indicates it is the fastest-growing non-custodial wallet in the Global South – accounting for 25% of new USDT addresses in Q4 2024 and over 5 million activations.
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