OMG Network(OMG)

OMG Network was founded in 2017 as OmiseGo, by Thai-born Vansa Chatikavanij, and later rebranded in 2020. OMG cryptocurrency is the native token of the Layer-2 scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain which used a Plasma sidechain for facilitating cheaper and faster ERC20 and ETH transactions. OMG formed a strategic partnership with blockchain and AI infrastructure company Enya in February 2021, to jointly work on innovative Layer-2 solutions. 

Enya and OMG Network announced the mainnet launch of Boba Network, a new Ethereum Layer-2 scaling system in September 2021. Around the same time, OMG Network was also rebranded as OMG Foundation, powered by the Boba Network.

Boba Network is a Layer-2 Optimistic Rollup scaling solution that works as a child chain of Ethereum, thus inheriting and benefiting from the latter's security features. It significantly improves Ethereum’s transaction throughput, reduces gas fees and extends the capabilities of Ethereum smart contracts. Boba Network users benefit from its community-driven liquidity pools which reduce the usual 7-day exit period of Optimistic Rollups to just a few minutes. 

OMG price

While OMG price breached the $10 mark within 2 months after its launch in 2017, its all-time high came in early 2018, amid a crypto-wide bull run, when it made a rapid ascent to reach $28.35 on January 8 that year. OMG’s fully diluted valuation was close to $4 billion at that point. OMG price fluctuated between $10 and $20 in the 5 months that followed, before losing support at $10 in June 2018.

According to our OMG live price chart, OMG coin continued trading under $10 for close to 3 years, showing some signs of recovery in April 2021, when it broke out of $10 resistance after a long time. This happened a couple of months after the Enya collaboration and also because of an overall positive sentiment in the crypto market. A corrective phase followed soon after, however, and OMG price retraced to a little below $3 by late June 2021. 

OMG coin’s next big push came in the second crypto rally of 2021, in November, when OMG price surged past $20 on November 5. It has since lost considerable ground and was trading in the vicinity of $2.5 in Q2, 2022.

How OMG works

OMG Foundation is powered by Boba Network, an Optimistic Rollup Layer-2 scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain. Optimistic Rollups like Boba Network are Ethereum’s child chains that move transaction computations off Ethereum, and then store the transaction data back on the Ethereum chain after processing.

To elaborate, smart contracts bundle up or roll up transaction details on Ethereum, and move them off-chain for processing. Thereafter, all this data is handled by the child chain’s participants, called validators or sequencers, who are assigned the task of returning multiple batches of highly compressed and processed transaction data back to the Ethereum chain. The submitted data allows for quick verification of the underlying transactions. 

Optimistic Rollups work on the assumption that all transactions moved off-chain are valid and submit them back without any pertinent verification. Instead, they rely on a 1 - 2 week-long challenge period during which any transaction's legitimacy can be challenged. As a result, withdrawals get significantly delayed. However, Boba Network tackles this drawback by using its community-driven liquidity pools which allow users to withdraw funds within minutes.

OMG, the native token of OMG Foundation, is built on Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard. It is primarily used to pay transaction fees for using the network’s resources.

OMG news, updates and highlights

2020 proved to be quite an eventful year for OMG Foundation. The Thai-based firm Omise Holdings which owned the OmiseGo Layer-2 solution, rebranded itself as SYNQA in May 2020. It soon changed the name of OmiseGo to OMG Network as well. However, OMG Network was acquired by Genesis Block Ventures, a Hong-Kong based trading firm, in December 2020. 

In another important OMG news, in February 2021, Enya, the world’s largest provider of secure multiparty computation services announced a collaboration with OMG Network to develop the next generation of Layer-2 scaling solutions. Later in September 2021, OMG Network and Enya announced the mainnet launch of Boba Network, the next-gen Layer-2 Optimistic Rollup for the Ethereum blockchain. Soon OMG Network was renamed OMG Foundation with Boba Network becoming its main contributor.

Frequently asked questions about OMG

• Can you mine or stake OMG tokens?

No, OMG tokens cannot be mined. Limited OMG staking options may be available on various exchanges.

• Which are the best OMG wallets?

Being an ERC-20 token, OMG cryptocurrency can be stored in any Ethereum-compatible wallet, including MetaMask, Ledger Nano, Trust Wallet and Trezor.

• What all can be done with OMG tokens?

You can use your OMG tokens to pay for token transfers and smart contract transactions conducted on its network. It can also be used to trade against other cryptocurrencies on exchange platforms.

• What’s the best way of buying OMG?

The ideal way of buying OMG is through established crypto exchanges where you can buy it either with fiat, or obtain it through trading pairs like OMG/USDT, OMG/ETH, OMG/BTC etc.