OMGX Optimistic Rollups will help scale Ethereum

Hear me out. We all know the history of OMG from 2017, but about five months ago, a miracle happened. The team was acquired by GBV, a HK VC firm, and is currently being led by Enya.ai, which is comprised of Alan Chiu and Jan Liphardt. Alan is the Co-President of Stanford's Alumni Association for Entrepreneurs, and Jan is a Professor at Stanford. Big Brains.

Admittingly, although it can achieve high TPS and is relatively cheap, OMG Plasma is not EVM compatible.

OMGX – Optimistic Rollups

So the team launched the Testnet of OMGX, its ETH L2 Solution based on Optimistic Rollups. It is essentially Optimism with added features – primarily crosschain bridging / fast exits and a staking token.

Read more: https://docs.omgx.network/faq

If you don't already know what Optimistic Rollups are, it scales Ethereum throughput by about 100-150x, is cheaper, and relies on Ethereum's security (unlike sidechains, *cough* i.e. Matic). It is a true Layer 2 solution.

If you are tired of high gas prices, this is basically the best thing since sliced bread.

You can also read about Rollups here by Vitalik: https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/01/05/rollup.html

Staking Token

Some of us have complained that one of the Layer 2 solutions that Vitalik is pushing for does not have a token. Optimism and Arbitrum, which have been building Optimistic Rollups, are privately funded and do not have a token. This absolutely sucks for average Joes like us who can't get a piece of the action. The rich just get richer. This is not the crypto way.

Well, now is your chance! OMG will be the staking token for OMGX and will power the network. All 140 million tokens are currently in circulation (max capped, no shenanigans), and traded on almost any exchange. (Not financial advice, DYOR)

Crosschain Bridging / Fast Exits (Quasar)

OMGX also has something else Optimism and Arbitrum do not have – Fast Exits. Typically, Optimistic Rollups have a 7-day exit period. Long exit periods can pretty much cripple Layer 2 usage.

The OMG team has solved this with Quasar fast exits. It is a swap based mechanism to move across chains – L1/L2 or L2/L2 – for a small fee that is paid to liquidity providers.

This means you will be able to move assets from ETH to OMGX to OMG Plasma almost instantaneously. The idea is to connect the three with Quasar fast exits, making Layer 2 easy to use depending on your needs. OMG Plasma for high TPS and cheap simple transactions. OMGX for smart contracts.

Vitalik actually did a proposal on this very idea recently: https://ethresear.ch/t/cross-rollup-dex-with-smart-contracts-only-on-the-destination-side/8778

Not to take anything away from Vitalik (Sorry!), but guess what? The OMG team was already working on it and finished coding it! Quasar fast exit contracts are currently in audit, and will be done by the end of May.

*Optimism has a solution to allow fast exits of Dai only.

Who is going to build on OMGX? Well, everyone! It would be foolish not to build on it. Because the construction is so similar to ETH, it takes less than an hour to port code from ETH or BSC to OMGX.

Here is an example of Sushiswap being ported:

https://docs.omgx.network/developer-docs/case-studies/porting-sushi-omgx

There is literally no downside to porting an existing Dapp on to OMGX. Uniswap is slated to launch on Optimism, but it would take almost no effort to add it to OMGX as well. More exposure and choices for Dapps is a win-win for the community!

For developers out there: https://www.omgx.network/apply/

Is OMGX late to the party? Nope, here are the current issues with Layer 2 solutions:

Plasma (i.e. OMG Plasma) – Not EVM compatible

ZK Rollups (i.e. ZKsync, Starkware) – Not EVM compatible currently

Side chains (i.e. Matic, xDai) – Not secured by ETH, not a Layer 2 solution!

Optimistic Rollups (i.e. Optimism, Arbitrum, OMGX) – Not live

As you can see, the race to scale Ethereum hasn't even started, and there is room for more than one solution.

The OMG team has moved at Lightning Plasma speed in only the last five months since its acquisition. I would not be surprised if OMGX Mainnet is launched in the next month or two.

OMGX will help scale Ethereum.