What is Mastercoin (Omni)? When it came to Bitcoin 2.0, Mastercoin was the first solution to ensure the security of transactions utilizing this technology. As a result, the crypto market and industry were presented with new opportunities. Understanding Mastercoin is essential if you wish to gain insight into the cryptocurrency business’s recent history.
Many other innovative technologies emerged simultaneously, such as Mastercoin’s rival Counterparty, Tether, and Factom. In addition to providing cutting-edge services, each option allays customers’ fears over the security of the Bitcoin blockchain. A string of disagreements has tarnished Mastercoin’s reputation, even though many unique products use it. The end consequence was that Counterparty could surpass all other enhancer technologies.
The project team chose to rebrand the project because its initial name garnered a lot of negative press and mistrust. The squad rebranded in 2015 with the intention of putting the past in the past. They settled on a new name in 2015. Its current name is Omni. First, we’ll go over the basics of Mastercoin: what it is, who made it, and how it evolved into Omni.
What is Mastercoin?
Digital coins and a protocol for electronic transactions are what it is. The project’s primary goal is to enable complicated financial transactions using cryptocurrency. Among Mastercoin’s upcoming features are smart assets, savings wallets, and the extension of a distributed tradeoff.
What is Mastercoin’s Inception Story?
As a whitepaper, the initial project draft was produced in the first month of 2012. Using Bitcoin as a foundation, Mastercoin’s creator, J.R. Willett, proposed creating additional monetary layers with different protocols in that paper. The whitepaper said this is doable without changing the Bitcoin core or developing a new technology to handle the additional regulations. In addition to facilitating the resolution of several issues, Willett’s suggestion served as a platform for further discussion. Among them are
- Promotion of Bitcoin stability by issuing new currencies that have progressed into contracts for modification
- Profiting the owners of Bitcoin through the addition of further value to this technology
- Devising a system for financing and software expansion
- Promotion and upkeep of the new protocol level(s)
- Finding means to assist those who adopt this technology early, financially
This additional protocol layer was introduced to allow Bitcoin users to create new smart contracts inside the Bitcoin framework. A Mastercoin-based innovative contract protocol encapsulates contract implementation and authentication. As a result, smart assets such as bonds, shares, real property, and others can be traded virtually.
New Version of the Whitepaper
The following year, on July 31, a revised whitepaper was released, with a call to action to raise funds to carry out the project. There was an uptick in investment activity after a Bitcoin Exodus address. Mastercoins equal to one hundred times the original Bitcoin amount were sent to this address by the end of August 2013. Furthermore, as an extra incentive for being early adopters, a few of them were also given more Mastercoins.
As part of the strategy, an incentive Mastercoin will be created for every ten Mastercoins. The funds were then planned to be deposited into that specific Exodus account in stages over the next few years to guarantee that the team and founder have sufficient funds to increase the value of their coinage.
In addition to generating heated discussions and widespread criticism, this strategy diverted attention away from the Counterparty’s initial decision to implement proof of stake. But Mastercoin ended up being successful. In light of his accomplishment, Willett asked for donations to fund an experimental product, telling his supporters they could put their faith in him. Many people were interested in the story as a whole. Remember that Mastercoin has maintained its financial record open to the public. Therefore, it has never been demonstrated that any funds have been misused.
The Journey from Idea to Investment
On August 15, 2013, a test Mastercoin was transferred to CryptoBegger, marking the first-ever transaction through Mastercoin. Up to that point, the group had accumulated a tidy sum in their Exodus account, which they might use for investments. The project’s originator was one of several individuals who gave the money. However, following the unveiling of the Mastercoin BitAngel in mid-August, a substantial portion of that investment began to stream in.
The initiative generated more than 0.56 million MSC and raised over 4,740 BTC. After that, 10% of the initial value would have been devolved over time to expand Mastercoins. That said, that particular Exodus account does not generate MSC.
Launch and Board Members of Mastercoin
The project’s seven volunteer panel members—J.R. Willett, Brock Pierce, Ron Gross, and Sam Onat Yilmaz—got the ball rolling shortly after in September. In addition to keeping a close eye on the general financial plan and the active personnel’s employment, the panel/board’s principal responsibility was overseeing tactical decisions and partnerships, providing support for awards through community recommendations, and so on. The board efficiently handled all of these tasks.
With this new direction, the board can move forward. Its temporary, essential role in the project is being actively diminished. The distribution of prizes and the control of Mastercoin Spec are also part of this. According to the board’s schedule, a proof of stake poll will allow the community to have complete influence over these matters. As a result, coin holders will have complete control over the development and growth of the protocol and any associated software.
Who Can Use Mastercoin?
To better grasp Mastercoin, it’s important to note that it pioneered the altcoin category enhancers. It was the first cryptocurrency to actively promote the development of new blockchain technology to create an app like this. However, Mastercoin still lacked popularity and everyday use. According to Mr. Willett, there are several reasons for this, like:
- Financial competition with Bitcoins
- Misinterpretation of their global message
- The weakening of their efforts
Okay, it’s not that complicated. First, understand that the initiative is open to all entities, from individuals to large corporations. Users of Mastercoin can create their resources, which are primarily tokens. These tokens can represent any value, including things, information, stocks, etc. In their unique ways, many forward-thinking businesses rely on this protocol to power their economies. Notable instances of such include Tether and MaidSafe.
Using Tether
Everyone can grasp how to use the tokens. Looking at Tether for a moment will do the trick. The project’s coins are digital representations of real-world currencies like the yen, dollars, etc. These coins are backed by real resources that Tether owns. Tether stands out because of its openness and honesty. This is a reliable source because they welcome audits anytime to prove their entire capital.
Using the Tether podium, you may convert the tokens into cash. You are free to use any HD wallet to store your Tether. In any case, you can find this feature in a small number of Bitcoin wallets. Because of this, the money can stay in an entirely risk-free setting. The fact that consumers may instantly turn it into Bitcoin is a bonus.
MaidSafe
Directly related to MaidSafe is its hard drive storage exchange, which lets users barter extra space on their drives for other users in need. One SafeCoin is equal to one sale of storage space. The SafeCoin is run by Mastercoin. To raise capital, MaidSafe’s creator, David Irvine, intended to offer 400 million SafeCoins for 8 million USD through a public sale of Mastercoin.
To put it mildly, there were a lot of issues because this was a rather novel and inventive idea back then. Remember that public/crowd sales weren’t even a notion back then; they were completely foreign. The execution of the plan was also a major factor that damaged Mastercoin’s reputation.
To boost Mastercoins’ nonexistent sales volume, the company announced a guaranteed incentive for buying Safecoin with Mastercoin instead of Bitcoin. According to Irvine, if made available for crowd sale, Mastercoins would constitute at least 25% of the market capitalization.
For a short while, the value surged as the reward offer amassed a substantial quantity of Mastercoins and Bitcoins worth seven million dollars. Because of this, most of the first users of Mastercoin sent their coins to Irvine. As a result, he inherited millions of dollars worth of illiquid funds and MSC that had no market value. But he succeeded in somehow amassing three million dollars worth of Bitcoins. He funds the activities of MaidSafe with this money.
From Mastercoin to Omni Rebranding & Competition
In 2015, Mastercoin changed its name to Omni in response to the reputational issues generated by SafeCoin. At that point, though, Mastercoin faced competition from a new entrant in the market: Counterparty. Upon its launch, Counterparty quickly overtook Omni in terms of market share.
In an interview, members of the Omni team said that Counterparty defeated them because of their messaging. The unresolved suspicion issues persisted, even though they did highlight a few notable apps that utilized their product. Resuming our discussion of Omni, it acts as a platform for distributed protocols such as Factom. The former acts as an app layer to the latter’s fundamental channel, and the internet layers in TCP or IP connect the two.
What is Omni’s Future Planning?
Omni intends to capitalize more fully on Factom’s technological capabilities. This innovation allows for the safe keeping of massive data sets on the blockchain only by a hash transmit the blockchain in for ten minutes. According to Mastercoin’s plans, it will be utilized to transmit network trading data to the Bitcoin blockchain. This will reduce the transaction fees and the likelihood of blockchain bloating due to Mastercoin.
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, Omni was the pioneering enhancement technology in the realm of Blockchain. The concept was revolutionary, but it had several minor flaws. Unfortunately, that was sufficient to discredit it. Because of these early blunders, Counterparty overtook it and became the market leader. Not even changing the name helped much.
It is challenging to predict Omni’s future in light of all that. Omni has developed many promising technologies that could be fun to play around with, but whether or not they can prevent customers from defecting to a rival is an open question. Given the industry’s size, there isn’t enough rivalry to ensure success for both competitors. Hence, one of the projects will inevitably disappear from space at some point. You may get more information on the Mastercoin site and Omni’s Twitter account.
