MiniPay, the stablecoin wallet owned by Opera, has launched a Visa debit card that lets users spend stablecoins at merchants worldwide.
The card connects MiniPay’s 16 million activated wallets to Visa’s payment network. Users in selected markets across Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Europe can now pay directly from their stablecoin holdings. Merchants receive local currency as usual.
The infrastructure is powered by Gnosis Pay. The card supports Apple Pay and Google Pay integration, and eligible users can earn cashback in USDT, USDC, or Tether Gold.
MiniPay launched in 2023 and has seen most of its growth in Africa and other emerging markets. It’s built on the Celo blockchain and focuses on payments, transfers, and savings using dollar-backed stablecoins.
The launch reflects broader stablecoin adoption trends. In Latin America, a Bitso report found stablecoins overtook Bitcoin as the most-purchased crypto asset in 2025, with USDC and USDT accounting for 40% of purchases. Institutional stablecoin transaction volumes in the region rose 81% year-on-year in the first half of 2026.
Circle partnered with African fintech Sasai in March to expand USDC-powered cross-border payments. Last week, Ripple acquired a stake in Flutterwave, the $3.3 billion fintech operating across 35 African countries.
DefiLlama data shows the total stablecoin market cap has grown to roughly $315 billion, up from about $250 billion a year ago.
