Sep 26, 2022 at 01:55Opera believes that its crypto browser, launched earlier this year, will help the company occupy its niche in the fast-growing Web 3.0 decentralized internet, as well as become a handy tool for interacting with cryptocurrencies. In this column, we looked into the uniqueness of the Opera Crypto Browser and speculated about the prospects of this solution in the crypto market.
A very brief summary
The Opera Crypto Browser is available on all popular platforms: Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.
The following Opera features are implemented in this crypto browser:
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- Built-in ad blocker and cookies;
- Free VPN service;
- Built-in media player for video content;
- Ability to view videos in separate pop-up windows;
- Interactive smart pinboards to collect bookmarks;
- Tools for screenshots and working with tabs;
- Opera Flow service is a space for instant access to saved files and links;
- Crypto Wallet (it is available in a simplified form in the regular Opera browser too);
- Built-in protection against hidden cryptocurrency mining (cryptojacking) and password interception.
Diving into the details
Let’s take a closer look at the most interesting elements we have listed above.
Crypto Corner is a smart start page displayed when you launch your browser. It contains news from reliable crypto sources, selections of topical podcasts and blogs, crypto asset prices and commission rates, an NFT gallery, announcements of ongoing airdrop and ICOs, a calendar of industry events, educational materials and other useful information from the crypto world.
Crypto Corner can be manually configured to display news about the projects that interest you the most. However, you don’t have to — while you use the service itself will automatically adjust to display news about certain crypto assets and industries according to your tastes.
Pinboards is a browser-built service for saving and sorting bookmarks on crypto sites, which allows you to gradually create your own archive of useful materials or personal knowledge base. By default, it shows the user tutorial articles on how to use Opera Crypto Browser.
Crypto Wallet is a built-in non-custodian wallet (Opera does not store users’ private keys). Crypto Wallet supports Ethereum, BNB Chain and Polygon blockchains.
The company also plans to add compatibility with other networks — partnerships with Solana, StarkEx, Nervos and Ronin have already been concluded.
An additional benefit of Opera Wallet is a secure clipboard that allows you to securely copy and paste wallet addresses with the assurance that no other applications, including malicious ones, will change them (or read them stealthily). All private keys are stored only on the devices themselves and are not transmitted to the network.
Direct access to dApps. Opera Crypto Browser allows direct access to decentralized apps and securely connecting a crypto wallet to them. Support for networks such as Ethereum, Polygon and BNB Chain, among others, gives users access to tens of thousands of dApps, including the most popular GameFi games. Opera intends to integrate support for other networks in the future.
Integration with Polygon is one of the most important in Opera’s strategy to move into Web 3.0. The Polygon network is not just a blockchain but a platform for running dApps, sidechains and layer 2 solutions for Ethereum. Polygon runs on top of the core Ethereum network — this allows for higher scalability and cheaper transactions.
Access to blockchain domains. Decentralized blockchain domains are tokens that allow you to transfer assets by a short alias (such as buidlbee.eth) or create decentralized, uncensored websites instead of a long blockchain address.
Decentralized domains are based on IPFS (InterPlanetary File System), the blockchain-based analog of a torrent network. All data is distributed between users’ devices connected to the network. This allows anyone to run their own site and create content for it without any censorship — such a site cannot be blocked anymore.
Usual browsers do not support IPFS — special permissions are required. In Opera Crypto Browser, IPFS sites are directly accessible without any extensions.
We have discussed only the most interesting aspects of the Opera Crypto Browser; you can read more details about the browser here.
Main conclusion
The Opera Crypto Browser is a modern technological project that can be a gateway to the crypto world for many novice crypto users. But for an experienced user, it offers almost nothing unique. Experienced users tend to prefer well-known specialized solutions. For example, a professional photographer would rather choose a DSLR camera than use a camera from a more universal device like a smartphone.
In addition, the built-in crypto wallet is also available in the regular version of Opera, and access to decentralized sites is not a unique feature today either.
Opera Crypto Browser lags behind traditional browsers in many ways, so it decided to bet on the world of crypto, where it began to accumulate built-in specialized functionality. For fans of such highly specialized solutions, we can also recommend the browser Brave with a similar set of crypto features, which builds a whole ecosystem around itself.
Brave went even further than Opera — it offers users native BAT tokens for viewing ads and allows you to transfer “tips” to content creators, implementing the original monetization scheme.
All things considered, the Opera Crypto Browser is a great product for beginners; it is a Swiss knife in the field of crypto. The downside of such universality is some limitations and intrusiveness of the tools offered, which will hardly satisfy advanced users.
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