Browser Makers Square Up As Opera Launches “Crypto Browser”

Opera has launched a “Crypto Browser Project” just days after the browser’s co-founder described cryptocurrency as a “pyramid scheme”.

The new Opera browser – launched in beta form for Windows, Mac and Android – is a veritable feast of crypto buzzwords. Opera claims the browser will provide “frictionless access to Web3 services” and that it’s catering for the “crypto-native” and the “crypto-curious”. Opera further claims the browser will make it “easier than ever” to browse “dapps” (decentralized apps) and “metaverse platforms”.

Once you cut through the jargon and download the beta, what you’ll find is a regular web browser with a couple of crypto features thrown in. One of these is “Crypto Corner” – accessible from the browser’s Speed Dial menu – which provides links to a host of crypto-related resources. These include cryptocurrency rate trackers, crypto-related news and podcasts, and a gallery of NFTs for those wishing to invest in digital artworks.

If you’re going to spend your money on NFTs, you’re going to need cryptocurrency, and the new browser includes Opera Wallet. Opera states the “non-custodial wallet will initially support Ethereum in beta but will soon extend interoperability across the major networks and naming systems through partnerships with Polygon, Solana, Nervos, Celo, Unstoppable Domains, Handshake, ENS, and many more to be announced.”

Opera is clearly trying to get ahead of its browser rivals in what it claims is a market that will add $1.5 trillion to the economy by 2030. “Opera’s Crypto Browser Project promises a simpler, faster, more private Web3 experience for users,” said Jorgen Arnesen, EVP Mobile at Opera.

“It simplifies a Web3 user experience that is often bewildering for mainstream users. Opera believes Web3 has to be easy to use for the decentralized web to reach its full potential.”

Crypto ‘scam’

Arnesen’s view is very different to that of Opera co-founder Jon von Tetzchner – now CEO of rival browser Vivaldi – who derided cryptocurrencies as an unethical scam just last week.

“Cryptocurrency has been touted by many as a revolution in currency, the future of investment, and a breakthrough technology,” von Tetzchner wrote on the Vivaldi blog. “But if you look beyond the hype, you’ll find nothing more than a pyramid scheme posing as currency.”

Von Tetzchner lambasted the environmental harm caused by cryptocurrency mining and declared that Vivaldi would have nothing to do with cryptocurrencies. “By creating our own cryptocurrency or supporting cryptocurrency-related features in the browser, we would be helping our users to participate in what is at best a gamble and at worst a scam,” he writes. “It would be unethical, plain and simple.”

Other browser makers are considering their position on crypto. Firefox maker, Mozilla, suspended accepting donations in cryptocurrencies following criticism that it was encouraging environmental harm.