Tether has expanded USD₮ and Tether Gold support within Opera’s MiniPay wallet on the Celo blockchain, targeting everyday financial use in emerging markets.
The integration connects stablecoins and tokenized gold directly to mobile users. It focuses on regions facing currency volatility and limited banking access.
Opera and Tether said the partnership aims to strengthen financial inclusion at scale.
MiniPay growth shows rising demand for digital Dollars
Opera’s MiniPay has grown into one of the world’s largest self-custodial stablecoin wallets. The platform has activated more than 12.6 million wallets and processed over 350 million transactions.
Recent estimates show 3.64 million on-chain users on Celo. On-chain usage expanded by 50% during the fourth quarter of 2025.
December 2025 marked a strong adoption phase. MiniPay reached seven million phone-verified USD₮ wallets by month’s end.
The wallet recorded 300,000 unique USD₮ buyers during the month. This represented a 33% increase compared with November.
Celo became the fastest-growing native USD₮ chain, posting 506% user growth over 12 months.
The USD₮ user base on Celo expanded from 825,000 to five million over that period.
MiniPay users transferred more than 96 million USD₮ in December. The platform also processed over 3.5 million peer-to-peer payments during the same month.
Users added more than 49 million USD through local partners, including Fonbank, Partna, Daimo, Cashramp, Binance, and Bybit. Total funds sent or received through MiniPay exceeded 153 million USD in December.
Digital Gold support adds value protection option
The integration also introduced Tether Gold through XAUt0 support on Celo. The feature allows users to hold tokenized physical gold inside their mobile wallets.
Gold prices rose nearly 50% during 2025, increasing demand for gold-backed digital assets.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that the company focuses on delivering accessible stable value. He explained that USD₮ and XAUt0 support practical use cases such as remittances, dollar savings, and gold-based value protection.
Opera EVP Mobile Jørgen Arnesen said the integration turns smartphone reach into direct financial access. He added that users can now hold, send, and save digital dollars without dealing with blockchain complexity.
USD₮ maintains a market capitalization above 186 billion USD. The stablecoin remains the most widely used digital dollar globally.