Opera now lets US users buy bitcoin and ether via Apple Pay

Opera has added a new feature to its browsers, which allows U.S. users to buy bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) directly from its in-built crypto wallet.

Opera has partnered with payments firm Wyre for the initiative, which supports both Apple Pay and debit cards to purchase the two cryptocurrencies.

“Wyre provides a very elegant web-based solution that was simple to integrate and is very simple to use. Their support of Apple Pay is a huge plus for our iOS users,” Charles Hamel, head of crypto at Opera, told The Block.

The fees charged by Wyre are “extremely competitive” and are $0.30 + 2.9% per transaction, an Opera spokesperson person told The Block.

The new feature is available for Opera’s all three browsers: Android, iOS browser Opera Touch, and desktop browser.

“Users can purchase as little as $1 worth of crypto, and there is a maximum daily limit of $250,” the spokesperson person told The Block. “As our browser-based wallet is focused around the usage of cryptocurrencies on the web and using dApps [decentralized applications], we expect the vast majority of transactions will not hit that limit.”

Opera said Wyre’s solution helps users buy bitcoin and ether in “less than 30 seconds” as compared to "hours or days" via some crypto exchanges. 

Notably, Opera already supports the feature for the Scandinavian countries - Norway, Sweden, and Denmark - since February 2019. For that initiative, Opera’s partner is Sweden-based crypto brokerage Safello.

Today’s news comes over a year after the Scandinavian initiative. “The key challenge was to find the right partners,” for the U.S. effort, the Opera spokesperson told The Block, adding:

“We are planning to expand this feature to more countries very soon.”

The spokesperson declined to comment on how many users currently utilize the feature in the Scandinavian countries. Opera claims to have 360 million monthly active users worldwide.

Notably, peer-to-peer crypto trading platforms Paxful and LocalBitcoins already support payments via Apple Pay.