What might happen to the price of OmiseGO in 2018 and beyond?
OmiseGO is a payment platform built on the Ethereum network and designed to offer payments, trades and other financial transactions in both crypto and fiat currencies. Its open-source technology includes three main features:
- A digital wallet Software Development Kit (SDK).
- A decentralized exchange.
- The OmiseGO Network, which will be built to scale infinitely using Plasma architecture.
The network’s native token, OMG, is one of the world’s top 25 cryptocurrencies by market cap at the time of this writing, and the project has generated plenty of interest throughout the crypto community. However, is its price set to rise or fall in the near future?
To find out, we’ll need to consider a range of factors.
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Quick facts
| Coin name | OmiseGO token |
| Symbol | OMG |
| Algorithm type | N/A |
| Mineable | No |
| Launch date | 2017 |
OmiseGO price prediction
Cryptocurrencies are not only volatile but also highly complicated. There are many factors that can have a positive or negative impact on the price of any coin or token, so you’ll need to carefully assess all those factors before deciding whether or not to make a purchase.
If you’re thinking of buying any OMG tokens, remember to consider the following:
What could drive OmiseGO’s growth?
- Real-world uses. OmiseGO aims to offer a payment gateway that can be used for an extensive range of financial services, including peer-to-peer payments, international remittances, bill payment, top-up of debit cards and much more. It’s also designed to provide interoperability between different blockchains and payment networks.
- Advantages over ordinary exchanges. The time-consuming and confusing process of exchanging fiat currency for cryptocurrency is a sizable barrier for many newcomers to the crypto world. OmiseGO aims to connect existing cryptocurrency wallets to a central OmiseGO blockchain, over which users can simply and quickly exchange cryptocurrencies. As a decentralized network, it also offers enhanced security when compared to centralized operations.
- Partnerships. OmiseGO has secured a number of important corporate partnerships that could drive its adoption moving forward. These include agreements with Global Brain and Thai financial institution Krungsri Finnovate, while OmiseGO’s parent company, Omise, also has partnerships with several other companies.
- Omise. Speaking of OMG’s parent company, Omise is a Bangkok-based payment services company operating in Thailand, Japan, Singapore and Indonesia. As a result, OmiseGO can access its parent company’s payment gateways, credit cards, real-time transaction settlement and a range of other features.
- Potential Stripe integration. In a January 2018 blog post, payment platform Stripe labeled OmiseGO an “ambitious and clever proposal”. This announcement saw the price of OMG jump more than 25% in the following 36 hours.
- Advisers. The list of advisers to the OmiseGO project is an impressive one and includes Ethereum Co-Founders Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood, as well as Lightning Network co-author Joseph Poon.
- Staking. OMG holders will be able to earn more tokens for validating transactions under the currency’s proof-of-stake model. This could increase demand for the token among those looking to earn a passive income.
What could hold OmiseGO back?
- Lack of adoption. The value of OMG will be closely tied to the level of mainstream popularity that the OmiseGO network can achieve. If it fails to disrupt the existing payment platforms and systems in place across the financial services industry, this will affect demand for the OMG token.
- Competition. OmiseGO is far from the only project working in this particular area, and it could face competition from projects such as Request Network, Metal Pay and Kyber Network. These competing platforms could hamper OmiseGO’s ability to achieve widespread adoption.
- Still under development. OmiseGO is still a relatively new project, and its features are still being developed. Until a working product is released and put to use, there will continue to be a level of uncertainty surrounding the project.
- Complicated. OmiseGO is a complicated platform to wrap your head around, particularly if you’re new to cryptocurrencies. This factor could prove a stumbling block for some traders who only want to back projects that they understand. For a detailed rundown of exactly how OmiseGO works and the problems it aims to solve, check out the project’s official guide.
- Ethereum’s scalability issues. One of the biggest issues facing all cryptocurrencies is the problem of scaling. OmiseGO is built on Plasma, an Ethereum scaling solution, so it will be interesting to see how many transactions per second the network is able to handle.
Where to buy OMG
What’s coming up in OmiseGO’s roadmap
What future upgrades and releases does the OmiseGO team have planned? To find out, we need to look at the project’s official roadmap – milestones in the roadmap are named after terms from the board game “Go”, which was invented in China over 2,500 years ago. The bullet points below detail milestones up until the OmiseGO Plasma chain is deployed.
- Sente. This is the public release of the OmiseGO white label e-wallet SDK, which is scheduled for Q1 2018. “We expect Sente to demonstrate the value of the OmiseGO Wallet SDK and its utility in global customer loyalty programs,” the roadmap reads.
- Honte. Scheduled for Q1 or Q2 of 2018, Honte will deliver the OmiseGO network and lay the foundations in preparation for Plasma. This means the project’s public blockchain will be released, and staking will become possible.
- Aji. This will see the launch of a cash in/out touchpoint interface that allows users to move fiat currency in and out of the Omise payment gateway. Its release date is still to be announced.
- Tesuji. This phase will see the introduction of a basic form of Plasma with a novel bonded consensus mechanism. Its release date is still to be announced.
- Tengen. The final phase of the current roadmap will see the creation of “a massively-scalable, cross-chain-compatible decentralized exchange (DEx) Plasma chain”.
OmiseGO’s competition
OmiseGO’s price could also be affected (either positively or negatively) by news, developments, launches and upgrades from its competitors. Some key projects to keep an eye on include:
- Request Network (REQ). Built on the Ethereum blockchain, this decentralized payment system aims to provide a new layer for the global payment network. It’s designed to create a universal ledger to support transactions and to automate and simplify tax withholding, interest payments and a range of other processes.
- Kyber Network (KNC). This Ethereum-based platform is designed to provide the instant exchange of digital assets and cryptocurrencies. Its September 2017 ICO raised more than $60 million in the space of one day.
- 0x (ZRX). 0x is an open-source protocol and decentralized exchange that allows users to trade Ethereum-based tokens with one another.
- Metal Pay (MTL). This payment processing platform connects your regular bank accounts with a cryptocurrency wallet, allowing users to send instant transfers anywhere in the world.
- Stellar (XLM). Built with a focus on simplicity and scalability, Stellar aims to connect banks, payment systems and people to provide fast and cheap cross-border payments.
Beyond 2019: What does the future hold for OmiseGO?
As it stands, the payment processing industry is something of a mess. With services and systems fragmented across a wide range of centralized providers, it’s a financial sector that’s ripe for improvement. With ambitious plans, strong financial support and the backing of an established payment services company, OmiseGO is a project that appears to be packed with potential.
However, it’s still in the very early days of the platform. The full release of the SDK (Q1 2018) will be a crucial milestone that determines the future path of OMG, as will the release of its blockchain (Q1 or Q2 2018). That said, it’ll still be some time before OmiseGO will be ready to achieve the goals and ambitions outlined in its white paper.
As the first cryptocurrency to adopt the Plasma technology, OmiseGO is a fascinating test case to see whether the scaling issues facing Ethereum can be successfully overcome. It’ll also be interesting to see how it compares to other projects that offer similar products and services, so stay up to date with news and announcements from OmiseGO and its competitors in the weeks and months ahead.
Bottom line
The most important thing to remember about OmiseGO is that it’s still in development. While there are undoubtedly plenty of potential upsides and the project has some impressive supporters, it’s still undergoing development. Whether or not it can actually realize the ambitions outlined in its white paper remains to be seen, so there’s no guarantee of success.
With this in mind, it’s essential to do your own research. Consider the technology behind OmiseGO, as well as the opportunities and challenges it will face in the future, before deciding whether or not you should buy.
Images: Shutterstock
