Opera Becomes First Major Browser to Enable Direct Bitcoin Payments

Web browser Opera now allows making payments with Bitcoin (BTC) directly inside the browser.

The company announced the news in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Oct. 21, detailing that Opera’s 350 million users can now send and receive BTC directly from the browser, as well as use the cryptocurrency for purchasing goods and services on e-commerce websites. 

Additionally, the browser now enables adding a Bitcoin and TRON (TRX) card into the built-in Crypto Wallet to keep track of the cryptocurrency owned. Charles Hamel, head of crypto at Opera, commented on the new feature launch:

“We believe that opening our browser to more blockchains, including Bitcoin, is the logical next step to making our solution more relevant to anyone who has a Bitcoin crypto wallet and would like to do things with their cryptocurrencies beyond just keeping them in an account.”

The features were previously released in the Beta version of the browser this summer, while the first cryptocurrency available for purchase through the browser was Ether (ETH) in February. 

Opera’s Web 3-focused developments

In recent months, Opera has actively presented new developments related to Web 3, the term referring to a new evolution of the web, with the creation of high-quality content and involvement of blockchain, decentralized computing and digital currencies.

The company released the iOS version of its mobile web browser, Opera Touch, that supports Ethereum protocol and Ethereum Web3 apps, and a Web 3 explorer, which enables users to conduct transactions and interact with Web 3.

Although Opera’s market share among other browsers accounts for only 3% as of September 2019, its latest development is another step forward to “an experimental integration of Web 3” and further adoption of cryptocurrencies.

As Hamel previously claimed, the company aims to remove the friction involved in “using cryptocurrencies online and accessing Web 3 via special apps or extensions,” in a bid to make the emerging technologies more mainstream.

In the meantime, cryptocurrency-powered browser Brave claimed high user engagement, with daily active users standing at over 2.8 million, and the number of creators subscribed to its web advertisement network also reportedly increased substantially.