Alrighty, let’s unlock the mystery of OMG Network, previously known as OmiseGo!
What is OMG Network (OmiseGo)?
OMG Network is the brainchild of the payments processing juggernaut Omise, designed to shake up how electronic wallets issue and exchange assets. You see, most digital payments today happen within single platforms like Venmo or Alipay, making it tough for money to move freely from one platform to another. OMG Network steps in to save the day by letting payment networks like Omise trade assets on behalf of users, sourcing liquidity for trades and facilitating transfers on a blockchain that serves as a real-time market for assets across all participating networks.
Who Created OMG Network?
OMG Network is the brainchild of Omise Go Pte Ltd., a subsidiary of Omise, a Thailand-based payments processor founded in 2013. Previously known as Omisego, the big rebrand to OMG Network happened on June 1st, 2020. The journey began back in 2015 when Omise started exploring how blockchain could spice up its business, launching the Omise Blockchain Lab for some heavy research and testing. Fast forward to 2017, a new company was set up, raising a cool $25 million by selling 65% of the supply of its OMG cryptocurrency. With partners like Alipay and McDonald’s, OMG was able to attract some major investors. And guess what? They even dished out some sweet treats to Ethereum wallet holders by distributing 5% of the OMG supply to those who had more than 0.1 ETH. Sweet deal, right?
How Does OMG Network Work?
The vision of Omise is to integrate loads of electronic wallets using the OMG Network, previously known as the OmiseGo blockchain. As more e-wallet providers hop on board, and more of the crypto assets they issue can be exchanged on a blockchain, Omise believes it could help provide banking services to folks who’ve been left out of the financial fun. Now, let’s break it down:
The OMG Network: This is a proof-of-stake blockchain meant to clear and settle the movement of assets between various e-wallets, without those e-wallets having to trust each other. It also comes with a built-in trading engine where e-wallet providers can publish orders and be matched with other parties looking to trade various assets. These orders can be set to complete within a given block on the Omise blockchain or left open-ended based on available asset pricing. And guess what? OMG Network is pals with the Ethereum blockchain and the Lightning Network, a payments technology built on top of Bitcoin (BTC).
How OMG Network Uses Ethereum: OMG Network has a bunch of cool technical features designed to play nice with the Ethereum blockchain. For instance, all nodes validating transactions on the blockchain need to be set up as nodes on the Ethereum blockchain. E-wallet providers can also create new assets backed by ether or create contracts that lock ether on Ethereum, pending certain conditions on OMG Network. So, when it comes to trading between e-wallets, it’s like high-volume city on OMG Network, with the final transactions being settled on Ethereum.
Why Does OMG Have Value?
OMG Network users must get their hands on some OMG cryptocurrency to pay for work done by the blockchain. So, every time you use an OMG Network contract, you gotta pay up in OMG, which then gets divvied up to the nodes on the network that enforce the contracts. These nodes, aka validators, “stake” their OMG cryptocurrency by locking it in a smart contract for a period of time. Users who create contracts may also lock OMG in these contracts. And if someone tries to break the rules or doesn’t deliver on an obligation, this OMG can be snatched away and sent to an address where it can’t be spent. This reduces the total supply of OMG cryptocurrency, making it a scarce resource. Since OMG Network uses proof-of-stake, new OMG isn’t minted through mining. Only 140 million OMG tokens will ever be up for grabs, with over 100 million already in circulation.
Why Use OMG?
Folks might be itching to dive into the OMG cryptocurrency if they believe Omise’s existing partnerships and technical vision could make the platform a hit with other e-wallets. Plus, traders who are already riding the ether train may see it as a nice sidekick, as OMG Network is an early example of an Ethereum-based application. If Omise can bridge the gap between centralized and decentralized financial networks with OMG Network, the OMG cryptocurrency could be a keeper for long-term traders too.
And there you have it, folks! OMG Network, the ultimate power move in the world of electronic wallets and asset exchange!
Links:
https://docs.omg.network/
https://www.facebook.com/omgnetworkhq/