Tether Joins Forces with Opera: Stablecoin Access Explodes Across Emerging Markets
Tether just cut a major deal with Opera's browser—and it's about to rewrite the rules of digital money for billions.
The Browser Becomes a Bank
Opera's massive user base in regions like Africa and Southeast Asia now gets a direct on-ramp to USDT. No more complex exchanges, no more gatekeepers. The stablecoin giant bypasses traditional finance infrastructure entirely, embedding itself into one of the world's most popular web portals.
Why This Move Cuts Deep
This isn't just a feature update; it's a strategic invasion. It targets the exact populations where local currencies are volatile and banking access is limited. Tether isn't waiting for adoption—it's building the rails where the existing ones are broken or nonexistent.
The Cynical Take
Of course, the usual finance skeptics will call it 'colonization by stablecoin'—another way for big crypto to profit from economic instability. They're not entirely wrong, but they're missing the point: people are choosing the digital dollar over their own central bank, and that's a market signal no amount of regulation can silence.
The partnership proves a brutal truth: when your national currency loses trust, the world's dollar-pegged tokens are just a browser click away. Traditional finance never saw this flanking maneuver coming.
MiniPay scales stablecoin usage across mobile-first regions
MiniPay operates in over 60 countries and claims 12.6 million activated wallets. The platform has processed about 350 million transactions so far and saw 50% growth in users in the fourth quarter, largely driven by adoption in emerging markets.
In December alone, more than $153 million was sent or received via MiniPay across all supported assets. Opera stated that the numbers point to increased demand for stable, dollar-based payments in mobile economies.
In addition to USDT, MiniPay now supports Tether Gold (XAUT), which is backed by physical gold reserves. Tether positioned the asset as a savings product meant to preserve value in inflation-prone environments. Interest in tokenized gold has increased as traditional bullion markets have grown. XAUT hit an all-time high of $5,600 in late January, following strength in spot gold prices.
Market data shape stablecoin outlook
The expansion of MiniPay comes as the broader stablecoin market enters a consolidation phase. Total stablecoin market capitalization is at $305.27 billion, down $3.006 billion from the previous week, or 0.98%. Despite the pullback, supply has remained close to record levels, following an expansion of approximately $120 billion in 2024.
USDT has held the dominant position, accounting for 60.65% of stablecoins in circulation. Other important tokens, such as USDC, DAI, and PayPal USD, are pegged to the dollar, which implies they are stable and not subject to systemic outflows.
Tether reported earlier this month that it generated over $10 billion in net profit in 2025 due to the increase of its USDT stablecoin and the holdings underlying those stablecoins, which are in U.S. Treasury assets. The company has been purchasing as much as $1 billion gold per month as it wagers on the precious metal alongside BTC.
Regulatory developments are also reshaping the sector. More recently, in the United States, Anchorage Digital launched a new stablecoin, USAT, under U.S. regulatory oversight following the passage of the GENIUS Act in July. In Asia, stablecoin issuer licenses are expected to be issued by Hong Kong in March. According to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, it will approve only a few applicants at the outset.
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