Key highlights:
- With over 11 million activated wallets and more than 300 million transactions, Celo Foundation and Opera announce an extension of their strategic, long-standing partnership in support of Celo’s 2030 vision to broaden widespread adoption of instant, onchain stablecoin payments in emerging markets, sharing a joint mission of promoting financial inclusion and building for the next billion users
- MiniPay, Web3’s fastest-growing stablecoin wallet, built on Celo, enables stablecoin to real-time payments via leading digital payment platforms, including Mercado Pago and PIX, with planned integrations of stablecoin-powered cards and more
- Celo has recently emerged as the number one Ethereum Layer 2 with over 700,000 daily active users, and the #1 transport layer for USD₮ with more than 3 million weekly active users
- A Mini App Roadshow will engage developers beyond Africa from markets across Asia and South America in H1 2026, building for MiniPay’s growing onchain economy, which features Tether Gold (XAUt0), bill payments, and everyday use cases
Dubai, UAE – December 3, 2025 – The Celo Foundation, stewards of the mobile-first, Ethereum Layer-2 Celo blockchain built for real-world payments, and Opera (NASDAQ: OPRA) the company behind MiniPay, a leading non-custodial stablecoin wallet built exclusively on Celo, today announced at Binance Blockchain Week the extension of their long-standing strategic partnership to make open, low-cost digital stablecoin payments ubiquitous around the world.
Since launching on Celo in September 2023, MiniPay has grown to 11 million unique activated wallets and facilitated over 300 million transactions, optimized by Celo’s pioneering L2 with fast, low-cost, real-world payments, sub-cent fees, and near-instant finality.
MiniPay’s global distribution supports Celo’s emergence as the number one Ethereum Layer 2 by daily active users (DAUs) and #1 transport layer for USD₮ by weekly active users (WAUs). With over 700K DAUs, and more than 3 million WAUs of USD₮.
Celo and MiniPay connect Celo-based stablecoin infrastructure with several digital payment platforms, including Binance, Transak, Transfi, YellowCard, Daimo, and Noah. Just weeks ago, MiniPay rolled out support for Mercado Pago and PIX payment functionality, allowing for stablecoin to real-time payment transactions in Argentina and Brazil. This early pilot will expand to all users globally to further reduce off-ramping friction.
“MiniPay is crypto’s killer user case, leveraging Celo’s infrastructure to make stablecoins useful for everyday people around the world,” said Rene Reinsberg, Celo co-founder and Celo Foundation President. “Our longstanding partnership has grown with the industry, from a simple integration in the Opera Mini browser to scaling the fastest-growing Web3 app, with millions of users. With product market fit and our thesis confirmed, we’re ready to double down on this exclusive partnership together to supercharge stablecoin adoption in the real world.”
“Our goal with MiniPay has always been simple: to give people a reliable stablecoin wallet that allows them to receive payments, save, and send payments – no matter where they are,” said Jørgen Arnesen, EVP Mobile at Opera. “By continuing to team up with Celo’s tech and ecosystem, we’re turning that experience into one that developers and payment companies can build upon, and that benefits the users.”
Additionally, as part of their Q1 2026 roadmap, Celo and Opera announce plans to deepen MiniPay’s role as a gateway to both traditional payment infrastructure and onchain utility.
The recently launched Tether Gold (XAUt0) integration for example, now sees nearly 30,000 users in its first weeks, moves beyond traditional stablecoins, now offering gold-backed, real-world assets (RWAs). The move comes as a direct response to user feedback, addressing the growing demand for assets that can provide a hedge against inflation and offer greater stability – a crucial feature for wealth preservation.
Furthermore, MiniPay users will soon be able to use stablecoin-backed cards and payments. Together, these integrations will position MiniPay on Celo as both a user-friendly front door for users and the connective tissue for partners who want to tap into stablecoin rails and onchain infrastructure.
To expand its developer and partner ecosystem beyond Africa, Celo and Opera MiniPay will host a joint Mini App Roadshow across new markets in Asia and South America in H1 2026 to encourage developers to build for MiniPay.
With this Roadshow, Celo and Opera MiniPay are bringing a physical presence to Asia, home to 32% of Web3 developers, and throughout Latin America, where cryptocurrency usage grew by 116% in 2024, and an additional 65% in H1 2025.
Download MiniPay on iOS or Google Play for instant, onchain stablecoin payments, access to the expansive Mini App ecosystem, and more.
About Celo
Celo is an Ethereum Layer-2 and mobile-first blockchain network built for the real world and designed for fast, low-cost payments worldwide. The Celo ecosystem consists of a decentralized, proof-of-stake blockchain technology stack, the CELO native token, USDC and USDT (both enabled as gas currencies), several Mento stable assets (cUSD, cEUR, cREAL, eXOF), and popular infrastructure including Aave, Uniswap V3, Curve, Velodrome, and Chainlink. Launched on Earth Day in 2020, the open-source Celo mainnet supports a rich ecosystem of projects (1,000+) contributing to Celo’s global mission of prosperity for all. For more about Celo, visit https://celo.org/.
About MiniPay
MiniPay is a non-custodial stablecoin wallet built on the Celo blockchain and offered by Blueboard Limited, an Opera company. MiniPay is designed to make digital finance accessible, affordable, and user-friendly – especially across emerging markets. Available as a standalone Android and iOS app, or as integrated into the Opera Mini browser, MiniPay enables users to send, receive, and save stablecoins like USD₮, cUSD, and USDC with sub-cent fees, no gas management, and a phone number-linked experience. Since its launch in 2023, MiniPay has expanded to over 60 countries and surpassed 10 million activated wallets, making it one of the fastest-growing stablecoin wallets globally. Learn more at www.minipay.to
About Opera
Opera is a user-centric and innovative software company focused on enabling the best possible internet browsing experience across all devices. Hundreds of millions use Opera web browsers for their unique and secure features on mobile phones and desktop computers. Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Opera is a public company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol OPRA. Download the Opera web browsers and other Opera products from opera.com. Learn more about Opera at investor.opera.com.