Web Browser Opera Adds Support for Bitcoin, Polygon, Solana

Opera, a popular web browser, today announced it is adding support for as many as eight new blockchain networks to ease access to decentralized apps (dApps) and services.

These include well-known projects like Bitcoin, Polygon, and Solana, as well as StarkEx, Ronin, Celo, Nervos, and the Cosmos-based IXO.

Polygon dApps are now available in the company’s novel Web3-native browser, called the Crypto Browser Project, on Android, on desktop PCs, as well as on Android.

Earlier this year, Opera rolled out the public beta version of its new Crypto Browser Project for mobile and desktop devices. The Crypto Browser Project is a standalone browser coming with built-in dApp support and a non-custodial crypto wallet. It also includes Crypto Corner, a point of access to the latest crypto news, prices, gas fees and market sentiment, upcoming airdrops, educational content, and an events calendar.

Solana, StarkEx, Deversifi, IXO, Ronin, Nervos, Bitcoin, and Celo are only currently available in Opera for Android and are expected to be supported in the Crypto Browser Project in the coming months.

“The average web user may still be hesitant to dabble with Web3, but with the integration of Solana, Polygon, and others in our mobile browser, they can now access these technologies from the safety and familiarity of the browser that provides them with a dedicated Web3 experience,” Jorgen Arnesen, EVP Mobile at Opera, commented on today’s rollout.

Opera is one of the oldest web browsers that has been online since 1995. The company launched its first web browser with an integrated Ethereum wallet and some basic Web3 support in July 2018, opening access to a variety of ERC-20 tokens powering dApps, as well as to ERC-721 tokens often used for minting digital collectibles (NFTs)

Opera goes multi-chain

The Oslo-based company said that it sees layer-2 ecosystems as a key strategy for its mission to remain chain agnostic and onboard millions of users to Web3. The term “layer-2” refers to blockchain networks that are built off of a larger mainnet (or “layer 1”), such as Ethereum. In moving activity off a mainnet, these kinds of networks can scale much faster.

Polygon, Ronin, and StarkEx are all examples of layer-2 crypto networks. Ronin also powers the popular “play-to-earn” crypto game called Axie InfinityAxie Infinity.

According to Opera, Solana is also a viable player in the blockchain sector, as it not only offers high scalability and extremely low transaction costs but also an energy-efficient consensus model.

Solana is more energy-efficient because it uses a proof-of-stake (PoS) which leverages validators rather than miners to validate transactions on the network. Instead of large machine farms running 24/7, validators are incentivized to behave honestly by staking crypto in the network. If they act fraudulently, they will be penalized and lose some of that staked crypto.