Browser marker Opera (OPRA) wants to replace its cash deal with Celo with a 160 million CELO token allocation, a move that would make the browser company a major stakeholder in the payments network if token holders approve.
The proposal, presented at Celo’s governance forum, would swap a quarterly grant in US dollars for a symbolic three-year award. Using the approximately 600 million CELOs currently in circulation according to CoinMarketCap data, the proposed allocation is equivalent to approximately 27% of the circulating supply.
It also represents 16% of the token’s maximum billion supply. At the time of writing, CELO is trading at $0.07, a significant decline from a high of over $6 seen in late 2021.
The transaction would involve a “one-time transfer of 160 million CELO from the unreleased treasure to a safe deposit box controlled by Opera.” To maintain governance, the proposal says, the voting power of these tokens will be “limited to 10% of the total CELO staked,” with protocol emergencies being the exception.
Opera and Celo said the change reflects the role of self-custody crypto wallet MiniPay, which the browser maker operates, on the network. MiniPay runs on Celo, a layer 2 Ethereum network built for low-cost payments, and allows users to hold their own funds, send stablecoins with phone numbers instead of wallet chains, and pay using local methods in several countries, including Argentina and Brazil.
“Given that MiniPay is already Celo’s most used app, we have a clear long-term incentive to see the entire ecosystem thrive,” Jorgen Arnesen, executive vice president of Opera, told CoinDesk. “The terms of this agreement reflect the scale and maturity of the partnership and Opera’s genuine belief and commitment to the long-term value of the Celo ecosystem and its native governance token, CELO, and our goal to be a key and supportive stakeholder.”
According to the companies, MiniPay has reached more than 14 million registrations and more than 420 million transactions in more than 66 countries since its launch in 2023.
They also said that more than 50 million Opera browser users who earned rewards in recent months will be able to redeem them as USDT within MiniPay.
If approved, the proposal would make Opera a long-term stakeholder in the Celo ecosystem. Opera shares are trading at $14.6 after losing 1.2% of their value in yesterday’s trading session.
