Understanding OMG – What is OmiseGo?

OmiseGo, one of the seven subsidiaries of Omise Holdings, plans to launch OmiseGo, a public Ethereum-based blockchain network, in the fourth quarter of 2017.

This decentralized exchange will be based an existing and relatively successful payment platform, Omise, a payment platform owned by Omise Holdings Pte, a fintech company based in Thailand.

Created in 2013 by Jun Hasegawa, Omise’s payment platform primary targets Asian markets including Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Japan. OmiseGo is backed by some of the biggest names in the crypto space including Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum’s inventor), Dr. Gavin Woods and Joseph Poon (coauthor of the Lightning Network whitepaper).

What Does OmiseGo Offer?

In June 2017, OmiseGO Pte. Ltd held a pre-sale to raise funds to build the OMG blockchain network along the OmiseGo white-label Wallet SDK. Based on the Ethereum network, the OmiseGo network will consist of an asset-backed blockchain gateway, liquidity provider mechanism, decentralized exchange and clearinghouse messaging network. Combined, OmiseGo eWallet and blockchain will help solve the inherent problems associated with peer-to-peer payment and value exchange services.

First, it will allow both the banked and the unbanked to conduct online financial transactions. Some of the service offerings that will be available on the OmiseGo blockchain network include supply-chain finance, payments, payroll deposit, B2B commerce, remittances asset management and trading and loyalty programs.

Second, OmiseGo will speed up cryptocurrency transactions as well as reduce the cost of financial transactions.

Third, the OmiseGo eWallet will be able to accept a multitude of digital and fiat currency payments, allowing for seamless and real-time transactions on the OmiseGo network. The OmiseGo network will use smart contracts and data feeds to interlink all mainstream eWallets, such as Vencom, Google Wallet and WeChat.

Real-time peer-to-peer payment services and value exchange services across organizational silos and borders, as well as across both digital currencies and fiat currency, is expected.  A lot is riding on what OmiseGo can bring to millions of potential users.

As with many cryptocurrencies, OmiseGo will reward its network members with more OMG tokens for validating transactions through a proof-of-stake framework.

The Overwhelming Success of the OmiseGo “ICO”

OmiseGo had planned to hold a presale and an initial coin offering (ICO), on June 7 and June 27 respectively. However, the presale attracted so much interest from investors, causing OmiseGo to not only cancel their ICO, but also revise its hard cap from $19 million to $25 million.

OmiseGo had initially planned to raise $4 million during its presale and the rest of the money during its initial coin offering (ICO), which was schedule run for a month. OmiseGo sold about 65% of the total float of the OMG token during the presale.

The OmiseGo Token Airdrop

Additionally, OmiseGO will distribute 5% of the total float tokens by automatic airdrop to all Ether accounts with a balance of at least 0.1ETH. In other words, OmiseGo will give out free OMG tokens to Ether token holders who meet this requirement. Omise’s team will receive about 10% of the tokens and the remaining tokens (about 20%) will be held in reserve for future use.

Update: The first airdrop was scheduled to take place September 4th but delayed slightly until later in the week.  For more updates on the automated airdrop, refer to the official OmiseGo blog here. 

Recent News Surrounding OmiseGo

Following the wildly successfully presale, the OmiseGo token quickly rallied to $1.25 on August 1st 2017 and hit a high of $11.59 on August 30th. By the end of August 2017, the volume of the token stood at $170 million, much of it in Chinese Yuan and American dollars. This means that OmiseGo is the first token to attain a market capitalization of $1 billion.

Some of the factors responsible for the impressive rally include the release of a working draft of the Plasma project, a protocol that allows for the scaling of a blockchain, and news that McDonald’s Thailand (McThai) would start using OmiseGo as a payment channel.

Recent news out of China has also unfazed the OmiseGo team:

The Leadership Behind OmiseGo – Meet the Team

Jun Hasegawa (CEO / Founder) – Jun is a serial entrepreneur with a strong background in computer software development, ecommerce and marketing. His experience in the software development space spans nearly two decades. Over the course of his career, Jun has developed myriad technology products, ranging from lifestyle management applications to mobile payment platforms.

Jun has worked with various companies over the years including Alpha-do Inc and LIFEmee Inc. In 2014, he created and launched Omise, one of the most popular online payment platforms in Asian markets today.  He regularly writes and shares updates about OmiseGo on his Medium blog.

Ezra Don Harinsut (COO / Co-Founder) – Don has over 12 years experience in the financial services and telecommunications industry. He has held different positions over the course of his career including International Trade Coordinator and International Trade Manager. Don’s career highlights include working with NTT, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world based in Japan.

Given his experience in the international business space and financial technology sector, Don’s main responsibility at OmiseGo is to oversee the company’s growth and international expansion. Don and Jun form a formidable team having worked together on various projects over the last 15 years.

Connect with Don on Twitter.

Key Advisors

Joseph Poon (Lightning Network Co-Author, OmiseGo Principal Author) – Mr. Poon is the lead developer of the OMG token and one of the authors of the of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network white paper. The Lightning Network is essentially a protocol that solves some of the inherent problems associated with bitcoin transactions including propagation delay, privacy and scalability problems.

Vitalik Buterin (Founder of Ethereum) – While in elementary school, Vitalik had a special interest in programming, mathematics and economics. At age 17, his father introduced him to Bitcoin and at age 23, Vitalik authored the Ethereum whitepaper, which led to the creation of the Ethereum blockchain. Currently, Vitalik is working on Ethereum 2.0 scaling solution, Casper.

Is OmiseGo Still A Worthy Investment?

Backed by a great team with big goals and more importantly, based on a successful payment platform, Omise, OmiseGo is a worthy long-term investment. If you intend to invest in this token, pay attention to key dates, news and press because the market could correct itself after the bull run in August.  In the long term, though, the price per token will likely rise, particularly once the full project is released.

Get Your Ear to the Ground – How to Join the Community

It’s important to follow and any community you’re considering investing in.  Many news and updates get mentioned via Slack and Twitter before the news wires ever pick up on them.  OmiseGo’s online community pages and platforms include:

• Slack: https://omgslack.omise.co/
• Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/omise_go/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/omise_go
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OmiseGO/
• Community Driven Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/107663726575121/

Final Thoughts for OmiseGo

Overall, OMG has good intentions to help millions of people, particularly the unbanked, conduct financial transactions. Its impeccable, proven management team is likely to achieve that goal.

OmiseGo plans to launch its eWallet in Q4 2017, so now is a great time to get involved if you haven’t already. While you’re at it, join the community and pay attention to key figures and news.

Disclosure: Author of this post holds $OMG tokens at the time this review was published.