Opera’s mobile and desktop browsers are expanding cryptocurrency purchases to U.S. users, as the Norwegian company looks to continue building its Web 3.0 credentials.
Through a partnership with Wyre, a U.S.-licensed money transmitter in the cryptocurrency sector, Opera will enable U.S.-based customers to buy Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) directly from the browser’s crypto wallet. Android users can use debit cards, while Apple iOS device users can purchase using Apple Pay.
Purchasing via the mobile browser — branded Opera for Android, or Opera Touch in the Apple App Store — has been open to residents of Sweden, Denmark and Norway for over a year, and an Opera spokesperson noted that the company intends to roll out seamless crypto top-ups in other countries “very soon”.
Although Opera is a relatively small player in the United States, with a 0.48% market share according to Statcounter, it has a more significant 2.12% market share in Europe. According to Opera, it serves 320 million people with browser and AI content delivery solutions.
Removing obstacles to adoption
The company also claims that its Apple Pay solution allows users to go “from zero to crypto in less than 30 seconds”.
“In the past, obtaining cryptocurrencies was a cumbersome process that took hours or even days. When you compare it with this seamless solution, which takes less than 30 seconds, it really is a gamechanger,” said Charles Hamel, head of crypto at Opera.
The NASDAQ-listed company explains that it intends to continue seeking ways to eliminate barriers to cryptocurrency adoption.
Although Opera has been publicly available for 24 years in various guises, it is seeking to differentiate its offering from runaway market leaders Chrome, Safari and Firefox through the addition of Web 3.0 features such as the crypto wallet and a DApp explorer, as well as security and privacy tools.
The crypto-enabled Brave browser has garnered significant usage since launching with a similar set of features, and passed 10 million monthly active users in December 2019.
