Despite transforming the world’s financial landscape recently, crypto trading remains complex. Due to these complexities, it is difficult for individuals who are not crypto-savvy to partake in crypto trading comfortably. This is especially a problem for regions like Africa that possess fragmented payment infrastructures and need cryptocurrencies to manage these fragmentations. Although many parts of the region have begun to engage with digital payments regularly, many individuals still find it hard to work with crypto.

To address these issues, Opera, an international mobile web innovator, has built MiniPay, a platform that enables quick and easy stablecoin transfers across Africa. This was done in collaboration with the Celo Foundation, a program that supports projects that help further “building a financial system that creates the conditions for prosperity for all.”

MiniPay: What Users Can Expect

MiniPay is built on the Celo blockchain—a carbon-negative and mobile-first platform that was launched on Earth Day 2020 to create a thriving collective of active builders, developers, and founders.

The wallet is also directly integrated into Opera Mini’s browser, allowing users to transfer stablecoins across Africa seamlessly. Due to its sub-cent fees, transaction costs are low, making the wallet more affordable than others. The wallet also has a 5-second block time (one of the fastest in the industry), enabling it to complete transactions in seconds.

Most wallets typically require their users to be crypto or tech-savvy as a result of complex key management, making it difficult for users to recover their accounts. However, since MiniPay has an easy onboarding process through integrating Google credentials, it does not require its users to be crypto-savvy. Its easy onboarding process allows users to promptly transfer and store digital assets and experience a slick introduction to Web3 transactions. Additionally, a user’s key is stored on their own Google Drive, allowing them to easily recover their wallet if they lose their phone or reinstall the app.

Furthermore, MiniPlay offers its users simplicity by integrating different local payment methods such as Airtime, MPesa, Bank Transfer, or Cards. This level of variety gives its customers a wide variety of payment options to choose from. Since the blockchain-based wallet does not come in contact with any legacy banking rails and depends on local partners to complete transactions, users can add, store, or transfer stable coins in their local currencies.

The Vision Behind MiniPay

Almost two decades ago, Opera became a tech trailblazer in the African market after introducing Opera Mini, to improve the continent’s access to the digital world. It has now become one of the most popular apps in Africa with a user base of over a hundred million people. The application showcased the company’s innovative data-saving technology and provided many individuals on the continent an affordable way to access the internet.

Meanwhile, the Celo Foundation is a critical member of the Celo ecosystem and is committed to creating affordable and accessible DeFi for people around the world. The Foundation was established to support and develop the Celo platform, a distributed, open-source, mobile-first regenerative financial system. The platform looked to facilitate conditions that would create prosperity and accessibility for all. The Celo community tenets guide the activities of the Foundation towards developing education, technical research, environmental health, community engagement, and activities that support and encourage an inclusive financial system.

Due to the complementary missions of both parties—Opera and the Celo Foundation— they struck a partnership back in 2021. MiniPay was built, as a result of this partnership, to remove the barriers stopping Africans from adequately interacting with cryptocurrencies.

Jørgen Arnesen, the Executive Vice President of Opera said: “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 indicated 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.”

What Is In Store for the Future

Despite Africa quickly adopting digital payments, the continent is still plagued by accessibility issues. Opera and the Celo Foundation seek to solve these issues with the introduction of MiniPay.

MiniPay is a simple and frictionless wallet and one of Web3’s smallest wallets—2 megabytes in size. For comparison, the Coinbase Wallet is 194 megabytes, while MetaMask is 68 megabytes.

MiniPay is expected to launch first to Opera Mini users in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa. The platform will be compatible with a broad range of low-powered mobile devices.