The Gold Standard of Crypto Cards Is Here: MiniPay Virtual Card, Built by Opera with Visa and Gnosis Pay on Celo, Is Live

MiniPay, Opera’s self-custodial stablecoin wallet built on Celo, the Ethereum Layer 2 built for the real world with the leading programmable rails for global finance, launched the MiniPay Virtual Card in collaboration with Visa and powered by Gnosis Pay. The digital Visa debit card enables eligible users in selected markets to spend stablecoin balances at 175M+ merchant locations worldwide: online, in-store, and through Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Since launching in late 2023, Celo and Opera have scaled MiniPay to onboard 16 million unique users across Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and beyond. The wallet has facilitated over 420 million transactions, with a growing payments ecosystem that already includes Virtual Bank Accounts, which allow users to receive money directly into their wallets in stablecoins, and merchant payment integrations with PIX and Mercado Pago. Now, MiniPay users can spend their balances anywhere Visa is accepted.

The MiniPay Card is the latest milestone in a nearly five-year partnership between Celo Core Co. and Opera. Opera holds a 160M $CELO allocation as one of the network’s largest institutional stakeholders, a commitment to the ecosystem’s long-term success. A dedicated Mini App powered by Squidrouter within MiniPay gives users direct access to $CELO, bringing the network’s native token to the millions who use the wallet daily. The Card deepens that alignment, extending MiniPay from a wallet into a more complete financial product built exclusively on Celo.

How the MiniPay Card Works

The MiniPay Virtual Card connects MiniPay’s stablecoin balances (USD₮, USDC, and USDm) directly to Visa’s global merchant network via Gnosis Pay’s payments infrastructure deployed on Celo. Merchants receive payment in local currency with no crypto-specific setup required. Users spend directly from their wallet without any monthly or annual fees.

In selected markets, users earn cashback in digital assets including Tether Gold (XAUt0), USD₮, and USDC. Omnichain Tether Gold cashback reflects Celo’s unique position in the tokenized asset ecosystem: Celo is the #1 blockchain for XAUt0 and the #2 chain for all tokenized commodities by holders, according to Token Terminal. The world’s oldest store of value is now offered as a reward for fast, low-cost everyday transactions.

Why the MiniPay Card Is Built on Celo

Celo launched on Earth Day 2020, with a founding vision to build the payment infrastructure for a global, mobile-first stablecoin network: a Venmo for the world, accessible to anyone with a smartphone.

MiniPay has achieved strong adoption in markets across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia where demand for faster, lower-friction ways to save, send, and spend continues to rise. That growth is built on Celo’s purpose-built infrastructure: 1-second block times, near-zero transaction fees, and fee abstraction that lets users pay gas in stablecoins rather than a native token.

Celo is the world’s leading transport layer for USD₮, with 4.27M+ weekly active users, more than any other chain, and 400K+ users transacting daily. Since migrating to an Ethereum Layer 2 in March 2025, Celo has driven $65B+ in stablecoin volume.

The MiniPay Card is the next natural extension of that infrastructure, taking stablecoin utility from the wallet and ecosystem of 50+ Mini Apps to the checkout.

What Partners Are Saying

“Celo was built for real-world stablecoin adoption since day one, and Opera’s MiniPay Card is proving what that infrastructure unlocks at a global scale,” said Marek Olszewski, Celo Core Co. CEO and Celo co-founder. “We’re excited to welcome Visa and Gnosis Pay to the Celo ecosystem with this launch, enabling users to spend with stablecoins at 175M+ merchant locations worldwide and earn Tether Gold as cashback.”

“MiniPay was built to make stablecoins useful in everyday life, not just to hold or send, but to spend,” said Jørgen Arnesen, EVP Mobile at Opera. “What makes this launch especially meaningful is that it helps connect users in high-growth markets to global commerce through a simple, reliable dollar-based card. We already help people move money more easily through integrations with trusted local rails such as Mpesa in Kenya, OPay in Nigeria or Mercado Pago in Latin America. Built on Celo’s fast, low-cost and mobile-first infrastructure and powered by Gnosis Pay, this card is the next step in making those funds instantly usable wherever Visa is accepted.”

“Visa is focused on expanding the utility of digital currencies through familiar and secure payment networks,” said Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa. “By connecting MiniPay’s stablecoin ecosystem with Visa’s global merchant footprint, we are helping give users in high-growth markets a practical way to participate in global commerce.”

“We built Gnosis Pay on the belief that stablecoins should work like money, which means that they need to be spendable. For someone in Lagos or Nairobi who already holds savings in digital dollars, the missing piece isn’t the wallet. It’s the last meter. The ability to spend those balances at a checkout in another country without the merchant needing to know or care about crypto. This card program closes that gap,” said Friederike Ernst, founder of Gnosis.

What’s Next

600K+ users are already on the waitlist. Access begins rolling out today, with global expansion throughout Europe (EEA), Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia continuing in the weeks ahead.

To get started, sign up directly through your MiniPay wallet or visit minipay.to/virtual-card

The post The Gold Standard of Crypto Cards Is Here: MiniPay Virtual Card, Built by Opera with Visa and Gnosis Pay on Celo, Is Live appeared first on Crypto Reporter.