Hi all, this is our first update of 2026, and a lot happened in Q1. Not just in terms of numbers, but in terms of what those numbers are starting to mean.
MiniPay is no longer a product proving it can grow. It is a product proving it can become infrastructure as a consumer app. The difference matters, and the last quarter made that shift concrete.
By the Numbers (Q1 2026)
-
16 million+ total wallet activations
-
470 million+ transactions processed
-
66+ countries
-
50+ Mini Apps live
-
400 million+ Mini App transactions to date
Major Milestones
Tether goes all in on MiniPay and Celo
In February, Tether and Opera announced an expanded partnership supporting USDT and Tether Gold (XAU₮0) inside MiniPay. In December 2025 alone, MiniPay users initiated more than $96 million in USDT transfers, with 3.5 million P2P payments that month. Unique USDT buyers grew 33% month over month with more than $153 million being sent or received through MiniPay in a single month. These numbers reflect a user base that has adopted stablecoins as working money
Then, in March, Tether announced that USAT is expanding to Celo — the first chain beyond Ethereum to support the token. The reason Celo was chosen is MiniPay. Pointing to MiniPay’s now 16 million+ wallet users as the foundation that made the expansion compelling. Where USDT built its dominance on speed and accessibility, USAT is building on credibility. Both are now orienting toward Celo. This move will also champion MiniPay’s presence in the US market.
Once USAT arrives in MiniPay, it will land in a wallet already trusted by the audience it was designed to serve.
Celo Community Backs MiniPay’s Next Chapter
The Celo community approved a proposal to allocate 160 million $CELO to Opera in support of MiniPay’s continued development and expansion. This milestone reflects that the Celo ecosystem sees MiniPay as a core distribution engine for onchain growth, not just a product running alongside it. MiniPay’s traction has helped support Celo’s rise to 700,000+ daily active users and more than 3 million weekly active USDT users. The governance vote formalises a long-standing alignment between what Opera is building and what Celo needs.
The goal remains financial inclusion for a billion people by 2030, and this allocation allows us to put real weight behind that number.
Mini Apps: The Ecosystem Is Getting Out of Hand—In the Best Way
Apple’s App Store is a prime example that proved that the right distribution layer can unlock demand even its creators did not expect.
MiniPay is showing a similar pattern. What started with P2P stablecoin sends using phone numbers and a Discover Page with 3 apps has grown into a Mini App ecosystem which generates over 400M transactions and boasts over 50 live Mini Apps across payments, savings, gaming, donations, microwork, prediction markets, and more.
For builders, the biggest advantage is what MiniPay handles by default: discovery, cash-in, and cash-out. Every Mini App inherits infrastructure across 66+ countries and 40+ local currencies and payment methods, from Apple Pay in the US, PIX in Brazil to bank transfers in Nigeria.
That means teams can spend less time solving distribution and payments, and more time building products users can actually try.
Buy Mini Apps: $CELO, $BTC, and $ETH
We recently launched Buy Celo, Buy ETH, and Buy BTC joining the Buy Gold Mini App which has seen massive engagement and growth from MiniPay users since its launch in 2025. These new set let users access major onchain assets directly inside the wallet. Most importantly, the Buy Celo app also gives the Celo ecosystem native token distribution through MiniPay’s 16M+ activated wallets.
Mini App Spotlights: Turning Visibility Into Growth
In January, we launched the Mini App Spotlight programme, giving one Mini App per week dedicated visibility across in-app placements and external channels. The programme was designed around a simple observation: great apps inside MiniPay could benefit from more attention, and structured promotion was one of the fastest ways to fix that.
The results have been clear. Spotlighted apps have seen an average 150% increase in active users, 160% increase in transactions and 91% increase in transaction volume in the weeks following their feature, compared to previous week. For builders, it translates directly into growth. For users, it is a regular signal pointing them toward apps they might have missed. We will continue the Spotlight programme through Q2 and beyond. If you have a Mini App live on MiniPay and want to be considered, please reach out.
More Support Than Ever for Builders
MiniPay announced a commitment of $1 million in performance-based incentives for Mini App builders, with monthly rewards in $CELO and ecosystem grants tied directly to transaction activity. No pitch competition. No committee. If your app drives real usage, you earn from that usage.
That financial commitment runs alongside an expanded support stack: funded growth campaigns, co-branded promotion across MiniPay and Opera surfaces, and hands-on product, design, and business development support. For early-stage founders, that combination of distribution and operational backing is typically the kind of thing that takes years to access or a slot in a competitive accelerator to unlock. Inside MiniPay, it comes with the ecosystem.
If you’re building something grounded in real life—payments, work, savings, commerce, community, gaming—we’d love to help you reach the users who need it.
The Mini App Roadshow
In April, MiniPay kicked off the Mini App Roadshow together the Celo DevRel team, starting in Southeast Asia with Manila and Ho Chi Minh City.
The premise behind the Roadshow is one we have learned quickly in MiniPay: the best Mini Apps are built by people who understand the users. A builder in Manila understands how money moves in Manila in ways that no product team can fully replicate from the outside. The Roadshow exists to find those builders and give them the platform, the distribution, and the support to ship.
The format combines community events, hands-on builder workshops, hackathons, grants, and incentives. Builders leave with a direct line to the Opera and Celo teams. Southeast Asia is the first stop. More regions follow.
On the Ground: Hong Kong
In February, the MiniPay team was on the ground at Consensys Hong Kong, where we previewed what is coming this year and connected with builders, partners, and the broader Web3 community. It was also the opening salvo of MiniPay’s intentional push into Asia, a region that accounts for 32% of Web3 developers globally and where cryptocurrency usage continues to grow rapidly.
Who We Are Building For
The clearest signal we have received over the past year is not in any single metric. It is in who keeps coming back to MiniPay, and why.
MiniPay is becoming essential for people whose financial lives cross borders. Freelancers, diaspora communities, travelers, nomads, expats, and global citizens all face the same problem: legacy finance assumes people live in one country, use one currency, and move money rarely. MiniPay is built for the opposite reality.
That is why the roadmap is focused on fast, cheap, reliable access to a stable balance users can receive globally, spend locally, and move freely.
That means virtual USD and EUR accounts, cross-chain deposits, zero-fee ramps across 40+ local currencies, and Pay with MiniPay, and very soon the MiniPay Visa card.
The roadmap follows this person. Every feature we ship is a question we ask first: does this make life easier for someone who lives across borders?
The MiniPay Card Is Coming
The MiniPay Card has been one of the most requested features, pre-announced it last year, and for good reason. Spending a stablecoin balance anywhere a card works, without workarounds, is the natural completion of everything described above.
Since the pre-announcement, we have been running intensive internal testing, and what we are seeing has made us more confident than ever. Adoption within the test group has been fast. The use cases are diverse.. Real users, real spending, real feedback shaping a real product.
The MiniPay Card will launch publicly in Q2.
Join the card waitlist here.
Thank you
To everyone using MiniPay, building with it, experimenting, giving feedback, or simply watching with curiosity —Thank you.
You’re helping shape a world where financial tools work for more people, in more places, without unnecessary barriers.
And we’re still just getting started.