Opera is Building a Browser-based Crypto Wallet to Reach its 10 Million Users in Africa

Opera, through a press release in August 8th, 2018, announced that it is launching a browser that will feature a pre-installed cryptocurrency wallet.

The new browser has come as a result of ‘strong interest’ and “overwhelming positive response from the crypto community” to the mobile crypto wallet which launched in July 2018, according to the press release.

Opera has also already garnered success with its Opera News app in Africa. It will not be a surprise if the company leverages this huge demographic in an effort to introduce and get the crypto-wallet adopted as widely as possible.

 

Since the Opera News app launched in January 2018, the app has already reached 10 million downloads in Africa. Add its Opera mobile browsers, and the news app is able to reach over 90 million people, according to the Opera News press release.

According to AppAnnie and Nendo, a Nairobi-based digital consultancy firm, Opera News is the most popular and most downloaded app in Kenya.

 

How the Opera Crypto-Wallet Will Work

The desktop crypto-wallet will enable users to connect it to their Opera for Android crypto wallet by simply scanning a QR code to synchronize, similar to how WhatsApp web clients work. Once scanned, the Android app will communicate access and permission capabilities to the wallet.

Once connected, users will be able to sign transactions using their fingerprints rather than enter passwords into the browser, which is potentially more secure. Opera does not save or have access to public and private keys for users making the Android crypto wallet user-controlled.

The wallet however is limited to supporting only ERC20 tokens and Ethereum.

Opera clearly understands that cryptocurrencies and the blockchain culture are here to stay and is looking to embed itself into this ecosystem as deep as it possibly can.

The revolutionary browser is clearly a step in the right direction as adoption of these newer technologies picks up, especially across countries like Kenya and others in Africa.

 

Update

You can now read and interact with our news content on the Opera News App. Click on the link below to download the Opera News App: 

Download Opera News App