- MiniPay added USDT support, reaching over 12.6M accounts and driving fast stablecoin adoption across Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
- Tether Gold integration lets users save in gold digitally, offering an inflation hedge as gold prices climbed nearly 50% in 2025.
- Local partners enabled $49M in cash onramps, linking MiniPay users to global liquidity and accelerating cross-border stablecoin use.
Tether and Opera have expanded support for USD₮ and Tether Gold (XAUt0) within MiniPay, Opera’s self-custodial wallet on the Celo blockchain. The expansion aims to give millions of users in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia easy access to dollar-denominated savings and gold-backed digital assets.
Wallet Growth and USD₮ Adoption
MiniPay now supports USD₮, the most widely used stablecoin with over $186 billion market capitalization. Users can send, receive, and hold USD₮ directly, simplifying blockchain interactions. The wallet has 12.6 million activated accounts, 350 million transactions, and 3.64 million estimated on-chain users. Q4 2025 saw a 50% increase in on-chain adoption, highlighting rapid growth in emerging markets.
By December 2025, MiniPay had seven million phone-verified USD₮ wallets. That month, 300,000 unique users purchased USD₮, a 33% rise from November. Celo, hosting MiniPay, grew 506% in users over the past year, from 825,000 to five million. Users sent over $153 million in stablecoins and conducted 3.5 million peer-to-peer transfers in December alone.
Tether Gold Integration and Local Partnerships
MiniPay also integrates Tether Gold (XAUt0), providing a gold-backed alternative for savings. Gold prices rose nearly 50% in 2025, giving users an inflation-resistant store of value. Balances can be converted to XAUt0 with a single tap, maintaining liquidity while preserving value.
Local partners, including Fonbank, Partna, Daimo, Cashramp, Binance, and Bybit, allowed users to add more than $49 million in cash to MiniPay wallets. The platform connects local economies directly to Tether’s global liquidity network, supporting cross-border stablecoin adoption.
Market Impact and Executive Statements
Opera’s shares rose over 15% after the announcement, reaching $14.65 from a weekly low of $12.40. CEO Paolo Ardoino said the expansion helps users save, send, and hold digital dollars and gold.
Jørgen Arnesen, Opera’s EVP Mobile, noted that MiniPay turns smartphone reach into real financial access for millions who previously lacked stable savings. The update follows Tether reporting over $10 billion in net profit for 2025, supported by USDT growth and U.S. Treasury holdings, while buying gold at up to $1 billion monthly.
