Tether has teamed up with Opera to add USDt and Tether Gold (XAU₮) support to Opera’s MiniPay wallet, expanding stablecoin and tokenized-gold access in emerging markets. Opera’s stock jumped sharply on the news, rising as much as 18% intraday and closing Feb. 2 up about 13.5%, with an additional 3.55% in after-hours trading.
Key points
– MiniPay now supports sending, receiving, holding USDt and converting part of a balance into XAU₮.
– MiniPay users processed more than 96 million USDt transfers and 3.5 million peer-to-peer payments in December 2025.
– Opera reported 50% growth in Q4 2025 and says MiniPay is available in 60 countries with 12.6 million activated wallets.
Under the Feb. 2 announcement, MiniPay customers can use USDt for payments and savings and convert some funds into XAU₮ as a hedge against inflation and currency swings. MiniPay is a self-custodial mobile wallet built on the Celo blockchain and is aimed at mobile-first markets in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
MiniPay first introduced USDt in July 2024 with its MiniPay V2 release, which added Pockets — a stablecoin swap feature that uses the Mento protocol to swap between cUSD, USDT, and USDC. Demand for USDt has risen since then: by December 2025 MiniPay hosted over 7 million phone-verified USDt wallets, and users executed tens of millions of transfers that month alone.
“Tether’s mission has always been to provide simple, reliable access to stable value for people who need it most,” said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino. By enabling USDt and XAU₮ in MiniPay, Ardoino added, the partners are creating tools to make digital assets practical for sending remittances, saving in dollars, or protecting value with gold.
Jørgen Arnesen, EVP Mobile at Opera, highlighted that millions are now holding and using on-chain stable dollars through MiniPay, often for the first time. The addition of tokenized gold gives users another option for inflation-resistant savings.
Opera has been integrating Web3 features across its browser ecosystem, including native stablecoin wallets, decentralized app access, and in-wallet savings tools. The MiniPay expansion with Tether continues that push and underscores growing demand for stable, on-chain financial options in regions where traditional banking and currency stability are limited.