Opera is set to soon released its built-in cryptocurrency wallet, supporting the Ethereum network, on Opera Touch for Apple iOS devices. The browser, which is already available for both Android and iOS, didn’t incorportate cryptocurrencies until now.
The Opera Touch browser’s launch on Android has followed closely on the heels of an update to the standard Opera mobile browser – it is important to note that these are distinct products – which also added a native, built-in cryptoasset wallet supporting Ethereum ERC-20 tokens (and nothing else).
In addition to the crypto capability of the new browser, the main selling point of Touch is the increased “Web 3” functionality. The browser is already available to those who want to be guinea pigs, and they sign up to beta test the product here. For the rest of us, the Web 3 ready browser should roll out on iOS “soon.”
Web What?
Web 3 is a term we see with increasing frequency, especially in the cryptoasset industry – but it’s difficult to pin down exactly what this phrase refers to.
The Web3 Foundation, led by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, broadly imagine a Web 3 web as a decentralized, permissionless, and consensual one – allowing things like truly private messaging. Their aspirations for Web 3 are in line with what they say the internet was always meant to be.
Other interpretations are less lofty. The term “Web 3” can also be found used as a synonym for the so-called “semantic web,” which aims to be a better way of expressing and organizing digital information – better in the sense that the data can be much easier understood and utilized by a wide array of computing interfaces.
We can probably assume that Opera have in mind a bit of both of these definitions in mind. During a marketing video for the updated mobile browser, Opera described their interpretation of Web 3 as a platform which allows “everyone [to] access decentralized applications,” and fosters “new peer-to-peer marketplaces.”
CryptoGlobe reported last week that Opera have also exclusively partnered with HTC on the latter’s new blockchain-focused smartphone, the Exodus. On that device, Opera will have direct access to the Exodus’ built-in discrete hardware wallet interface.
