As we have wrapped up the third quarter of 2024, we’re thrilled to celebrate a major milestone—one year since the launch of MiniPay! Over the past year, MiniPay has grown and evolved as a key player in the Celo ecosystem, and we’re excited to share the latest updates with our incredible community.
From the beginning, our mission has been clear: to deliver fast, easy, and affordable peer-to-peer payments using stablecoins. This past quarter has been no different, as we’ve seen tremendous growth, rolled out exciting new features, and expanded MiniPay’s reach. None of this would have been possible without your support, and we’re so grateful for the community that continues to fuel our journey.
Here are some highlights from Q3:
- MiniPay Celebrates Its First Anniversary: This quarter marks one year since MiniPay’s launch, and we couldn’t be more proud of the progress we’ve made. From expanding across multiple countries to integrating exciting new features like Pockets and multi stablecoin support, our journey has been driven by the passion and support of our community. MiniPay has transformed from a simple idea into a powerful tool, connecting millions of users to the world of Web3.
- MiniPay V2 Launch: In July, we launched MiniPay V2, featuring a sleek, user-friendly interface designed to boost user engagement and satisfaction. The update added support for USDt—the world’s most widely used stablecoin—and USDC with Pockets, a feature powered by Mento Protocol, that enables seamless swaps between stablecoins. These additions help MiniPay users hold multiple stablecoins effortlessly and interact with a broader financial ecosystem.
- Now Featuring 10 Celo Mini Apps: With the recent introduction of Africasters, Predictor, and TryHold, MiniPay’s Discover section now features 10 integrated Celo ecosystem apps, each offering real-life use cases that help drive daily active users. These Mini apps enhance user utility by providing opportunities to earn, and engage with the local economy.
- Over 15 Million Mini App Transactions: Mini apps in the MiniPay Discover page generated more than 15 million transactions in Q3 alone, marking a 275% growth compared to the previous quarter. This rapid rise in transactions demonstrates how MiniPay continues to expand its utility across various use cases, from savings to payments.
MiniPay in the Spotlight
As part of our first-anniversary celebrations, MiniPay was proudly showcased at several Web3 events, including Token2049 and ETH Safari—one of Africa’s largest Ethereum gatherings, which we co-sponsored alongside Celo Foundation and Mento Labs. At ETH Safari, MiniPay’s utility took center stage, with many visitors from Europe and the United States using MiniPay for payments on the ground in Kenya. The event highlighted a noticeable shift in the industry toward more user-friendly, grassroots solutions like MiniPay, with conversations focusing on building accessible solutions meeting grassroot needs.
One Year Anniversary Celebration at Celo Africa Gather Nairobi
In September, MiniPay co-sponsored the Celo Gather event in Nairobi organized by the Celo Africa DAO which featured a Builder focused session for MiniPay, various keynotes, and panel discussions by integrated partners to discuss partnerships and the role they plays in driving product success.
Stablecoins for Local Payments: A Game-Changing Utility
This quarter, MiniPay’s powerful utility was on full display, particularly the ability to hold stablecoins like USDt and make direct payments to merchants in local currencies and local payment methods. This unique feature allows users to seamlessly bridge stablecoins with local economies, providing an effortless way to transact in local currencies while keeping their funds in stablecoins. Recent feedback surveys highlight that USDt remains the most popular asset, with many of them already holding USDt as a form of investment and expressing interest in being able to use it as a means of payment. With MiniPay, these users can now use it to pay for their everyday needs including airtime and data, television subscriptions, and even electricity.
This groundbreaking functionality was highlighted by two Mini apps, Pretium and BitGifty, both products of Celo Camp, which have been integrated into MiniPay. These Mini apps enable users to pay merchants in local payment methods like M-Pesa in Kenya, and , and local bank transfers in Nigeria, all while holding their balance in stablecoins like cUSD or USDt.
Thousands of transactions are made daily from these Mini apps in MiniPay exemplifying the real-world utility we bring to the Celo community.
A Global Testimonial
Members of the Celo Europe team recently shared their journey across Kenya and Nigeria, where they relied entirely on MiniPay for payments. Their testimonial reflects the real-world convenience and ease that MiniPay offers, both for locals and international visitors. You can read more about their experience here.
Industry Recognition
MiniPay’s ease of use and utility have not gone unnoticed. We’ve received organic press coverage and praise from industry thought leaders this quarter, recognizing our efforts in making Web3 accessible to millions. Here are some of our favorite hits;
- Nic Carter’s Twitter post highlighting MiniPay
- Crypto Altruism’s Analysis of MiniPay’s journey
- Celo Europe blogpost on using MiniPay while traveling in Kenya & Lagos
- Vitalik tweet commending Celo for surpassing Tron Stablecoin DAU
- BCSN News
- Tether’s Paulo Ardoino’s excitement about USDt growth in MiniPay
Marketing Highlights: Cash Links on the Ground
This quarter saw MiniPay Cash Links rise in popularity among our community on X and WhatsApp, but we also took it offline for the first time. During ETH Safari, we distributed over 1,000 Cashlinks, each one representing a new MiniPay user. These physical Cash Links not only drove awareness but also led to real user growth and engagement in a tangible, community-focused way. They also sparked the interest of local communities and ecosystem partners as an interesting tool for distribution of not just incentives but also possibly UBI.
Mini App Spotlight 1 : Africasters by Polkamarkets
Africasters Mini App—a prediction market built by Polkamarkets was added to MiniPay Discover this quarter allowing users to take positions on outcomes of real world events, participate in contests and earn rewards. Since joining the MinPay ecosystem, Africasters has generated over 500,000 transactions from Minipay users and continues to grow.
Mini App Spotlight 2 : MENTO
MiniPay partnered with Mento Labs, the team behind cUSD, to launch a Mini app that drives engagement for their newly launched MENTO Token. The Mento Labs Mini app, now available within MiniPay’s Discover section, allows users to interact directly with the Mento protocol while engaging in airdrop participation.
By integrating this Mini app, MiniPay users can seamlessly claim their airdropped tokens, fostering greater participation and visibility for the Mento Token.
Opera NewsHub - Africa’s #1 Content Platform
This quarter, over 9,000 writers on Opera NewsHub—Africa’s leading content platform—received payments in USDt and cUSD via MiniPay, thanks to our partnership with Mural. These writers, producing exclusive content for the platform, are also active MiniPay users. Many have expressed their appreciation for the ease and speed of receiving payments through MiniPay, which allows them to preserve the value of their earnings particularly in markets experiencing inflation and currency fluctuations. This use case not only simplifies payments for the writers but also demonstrates MiniPay’s capability to handle large-scale, international transactions efficiently.
Best-in-Class Cash-in-Cash-Out
MiniPay’s success can be attributed to its strong lineup of on/off-ramp partners such as Fonbank, Partna, Cashramp, YellowCard, Pretium, Transak, Ramp, Moonpay, Unlimit, Transfi, Onramp, and Banxa. A list that continues to grow rapidly. These partnerships have facilitated millions of dollars in transactions in MiniPay, ensuring that users can easily move between local currency and stablecoins. To make this process even smoother, we’re excited to announce free on/off-ramp transactions through several key partners. MiniPay users can now add cash and withdraw at zero fees with Fonbank and soon Cashramp, Partna, Bitgifty, Pretium and others will follow.
What’s next?
As we move forward, our commitment to expanding the utility and reach of MiniPay remains strong. Q4 will be another busy quarter for MiniPay and some of the highlights we are looking forward to is the release of our new MiniPay app now available on Android and already in closed testing and will begin rolling out in selected markets in the coming days with MiniPay for iOS to follow soon after. On top of these, we have a very busy roadmap ahead so stay tuned for more updates!