Opera integrates Bitcoin, Solana, Polygon and five other blockchains

Opera, one of the major crypto-friendly internet browsers, announced the integration of eight blockchains in a continued effort to introduce Web3 to more than 380 million mobile and desktop users worldwide.

In Jan. 2022, Opera launched the Crypto Browser project, a Web3-focused initiative for facilitating navigation across decentralized applications (DApp), games and metaverse platforms. As part of this initiative, the browser company added support for eight major blockchain ecosystems, including Bitcoin (BTC), Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), StarkEx, Ronin, Celo, Nervos DAO and IXO.

Opera said in the announcement that its users now have access to the Polygon and Solana DApp ecosystems, as well as "the benefits of Layer 2 DeFi via StarkWare-powered DiversiFi."

The latest integrations enable Opera users to access Polygon proof-of-stake (POS) blockchain and Ethereum L2 ecosystem via StarkEx.

According to the company, the intention behind integrating multiple blockchains was to ensure chain agnosticism and Web3 involvement in an environment-friendly manner. Jorgen Arnesen, EVP Mobile at Opera stated:

“Ultimately, Web3 is on its way to becoming a mainstream web technology and users won’t need to know they’re interacting with it. They need to get a superior user experience and a true benefit.”

The announcement further highlighted the need for carbon-neutral solutions with low gas fees, which stands as one of the main reasons for choosing Polygon over the Ethereum blockchain.

Related: Brave to integrate with Solana blockchain on its privacy-enabled browser

Back in Nov. 2021, Opera competitor Brave browser integrated Solana blockchain to strengthen its DApps capability.

We've partnered with @solana to integrate it into the browser and make it the default for DApp support. We will soon bring best-in-class wallet features for the Solana blockchain into our desktop & mobile browsers. #BreakpointLisbon https://t.co/tTB7NXKWjI

— Brave Software (@brave) November 8, 2021

Citing the partnership, Brendan Eich, CEO and co-founder of Brave said that:

“With more and more users and creators requiring tools for fast and affordable access to the decentralized Web, this integration will seamlessly pave the way for the next billion crypto users to harness applications and tokens.”

Brave is yet to announce the addition of multi-chain support to rival its growing competition.