What is OmiseGo?

OMG is available for trading on Liquid against ETH and BTC.

"Enabling people to securely access financial services, invest, exchange and spend digital assets anytime, anywhere through the OmiseGO platform." OmiseGO’s bold catchline is immediately thought provoking. Why is there a need for enabling financial access to digital assets? Let’s dive right in.

What is OmiseGO?

Established in 2017 as a subsidiary of Omise Holdings, OmiseGO is a technology first company whose mission is to enable people to securely access financial services, invest, exchange and spend digital assets anywhere, anytime through the OmiseGO platform. OmiseGO’s products include the white label eWallet Suite and the public, decentralized and open source OmiseGO Network.OmiseGO raised $25 million in an ICO in July 2017.

OmiseGO believes that having access to financial services can improve lives. The project aims to be a decentralized exchange, digital asset gateway, clearing house and a liquidity provider. There’s a lot to unpack.

Essentially, OmiseGO is creating an alternative to highly centralized traditional financial institutions with a borderless, open, financial system that is accessible to everyone. The vision is to be the most customer-centric company that allows for financial autonomy and enables payments for all without the burden of heavy bureaucratic lines.

The OmiseGO Network is fully public and decentralized, secured by Ethereum and built to scale in large numbers using the Plasma architecture. It is the primary infrastructure that will enable interaction among blockchain platforms. This interaction allows OmiseGO to create a unified ledger, or a network of validly coordinated ledgers - a decentralized exchange (DEX), in which ownership and status of an asset can be recorded and traded. Ultimately, the combination of the Plasma scaling solution and the DEX is what forms the core of the OmiseGO Network

OmiseGO vs traditional methods

Banks and payment networks involve centralized risk and all transactions must include third parties. Not only does this increase counterparty risk, it also inevitably slows down processing times and hikes fees.

The team and company

Omise Holdings, the company behind OmiseGO, is also the mind behind Omise, a leading payment services company in Asia since 2013. Services like this are vital, especially in developing countries. The Omise team was noted by Forbes Thailand as a team of ‘Fintech Rockstars’ in 2016.

The finance and payment processing niche in crypto isn’t unique to OmiseGO. The difference is the prior experience and established name that this project shared through Omise Holdings is already a well-known brand in this niche, which lends credence to their future developments with this project.

Furthermore, OmiseGO already has key partners that could open the doors to future benefits for the network. 

Asia is a proof of concept that shows the importance of payment networks like Omise and OmiseGO. In Asia there are lots of smaller countries that develop segmented from each other. This fractional development introduces issues in terms of value transfer that are solved by payment networks. They allow you to send money fast with low fees avoiding traditional barriers.

OmiseGO is being developed by a company with previous experience in these types of financial services. The Omise team is seizing the opportunity to harness the power of blockchain technology to create a powerful decentralized financial network and economy.

There are ambitious goals, but if the team can achieve them it will have a vast impact on finance.

OMG Token

TheOmiseGO Network is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network, with its own token, the OMG token. The token is a value adding piece of the ecosystem that helps manage and control the network in a decentralized manner.

OMG token holders can stake their OMG to validate transactions and receive transaction fees. Incorrect validation is punished, just like other PoS networks.

OMG is also used to pay transaction fees on the network.

OMG is now live for trading on Liquid.

Current progress

The OmiseGO team has been busy since the ICO in mid 2017. So far, they have been working on a wallet Software Development Kit (SDK), ODEX, and building on top of Plasma –the OmiseGO eWallet Suite.

Plasma is a smart contract network on Ethereum that is highly scalable in comparison to the standard Ethereum network and can handle much more data.

Higher scalability is achieved by Plasma allowing child chains within chains. OmiseGO are one of the first projects that is building on Plasma.

Built on the OmiseGO Network is a decentralized exchange (DEX) mechanism that ensures the fast and secure exchange of different asset types. The DEX will facilitate the exchange of digital assets, with the transactions being validated by PoS network contributors.

The OmiseGO DEX is blockchain and currency agnostic and will offer ways to exchange cryptocurrencies that are based on Ethereum, as well as those built on the Bitcoin protocol and similar networks.

The OmiseGO white-labeled eWallet Suite is the bridge that connects users seamlessly to the OmiseGO network. It is open-source and free for anyone who needs an eWallet for storing and trading digitized assets. It allows wallet providers the flexibility to enhance, add, and customize financial solutions for many use cases, including but not limited to payments and remittances, loyalty programs and asset management, and other on-demand services in a decentralized, high performing, and inexpensive way. With a full range of financial services and tools, it is the door to a cashless economy at your fingertips.