Tether and browser maker Opera have expanded access to dollar-linked digital assets in emerging markets by adding support for USDT and Tether Gold (XAUT) to Opera’s MiniPay wallet. MiniPay is a self-custodial mobile wallet built on the Celo blockchain that targets users in regions such as Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, where dollar-denominated stablecoins are used for savings and transfers.
“Tether’s mission has always been to provide simple, reliable access to stable value for people who need it most,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said, explaining the rationale for the integration.
Opera reports MiniPay is available in 60 countries and has 12.6 million activated wallets, with 350 million transactions processed to date. The wallet saw 50% user growth in Q4, driven largely by adoption in emerging markets. MiniPay’s Android and iOS apps require only a phone number to activate, lowering the barrier to entry for mobile-first users. Across its integrations, more than $153 million was sent or received through MiniPay in December, underscoring demand for stable, dollar-based mobile payments.
Alongside USDT, MiniPay now supports XAUT, Tether’s tokenized gold product, which is presented as an inflation-resistant savings option. XAUT traded near an all-time high of about $5,600 in late January, concurrent with spot gold strength. CoinGecko data cited a circulating XAUT supply of roughly 712,747 and a market capitalization near $3.4 billion.
The rollout comes amid a cooling broader crypto market. After two years of expansion, total stablecoin market capitalization began falling in December, according to CryptoQuant. Analyst Darkfost observed that net stablecoin-to-exchange inflows “have been largely wiped out,” describing an initial sharp decline of $9.6 billion followed by more than $4 billion in outflows. Crypto markets overall have fallen roughly 38% from their October peak, when total market capitalization reached about $4.4 trillion.
The MiniPay integration aims to give users in underserved regions simpler access to dollar-pegged and tokenized-gold options for payments and savings, even as macro crypto flows and market sentiment remain volatile.
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