Tether and Opera have partnered to expand access to dollar-denominated stablecoins in emerging markets across Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia through the MiniPay wallet app, which the companies say has processed 350 million transactions across 12.6 million activated wallets in 60 countries.
What Happened: Stablecoin Wallet Expansion
The stablecoin issuer announced Monday it would expand support for USDt (USDT) and Tether Gold XAUT (XAUT) within MiniPay, Opera's self-custodial wallet built on the Celo blockchain. The app requires only a mobile phone number to activate and is available on Android and iOS.
MiniPay reported 50% user growth in Q4. More than $153 million was sent or received through the platform in December.
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Why It Matters: Emerging Market Demand
"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.
The partnership comes as stablecoin market dynamics shift. Following two years of expansion, total stablecoin market capitalization began declining in December. Net stablecoin-to-exchange inflows "have been largely wiped out," said analyst Darkfost, noting more than $4 billion in recent outflows reflecting "a rise in risk aversion, or even capitulation among later entrants."
MiniPay also supports XAUT for inflation-resistant savings. The tokenized gold asset reached an all-time high of $5,600 in late January, with a circulating supply of 712,747 tokens and $3.4 billion market capitalization.