The institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies has been gaining momentum over the past couple of years due to venture capitalists and money managers looking to the crypto market as the next investment class that will offer the greatest return. The Boba Network (BOBA) is the most recent protocol to benefit from institutional interest and the long search for an Ethereum (ETH) layer-two scaling solution capable of low-cost transactions and fast processing times. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that BOBA has gained 50.71% over the past week and a half after climbing from a low of $1.24 on March …

In September the frenzy that propelled the nonfungible token (NFT) sector quieted down but a burst of fresh energy emerged as the layer-two sector heated after the successful launch of Ethereum (ETH) scaling solutions like Arbitrum and Optimism. Another project that has benefited from the sector's transition to layer-1 and layer-2 alternatives is OMG Network (OMG), a non-custodial layer-two protocol that utilizes an optimistic rollup scaling solution to improve Ethereum scalability. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $8.42 on July 20, the price of OMG has climbed 380% to reach a daily …

Ethereum-based scaling platform OMG Network has been acquired by the venture subsidiary of Hong Kong-headquartered OTC trading firm, Genesis Block. The acquisition was announced on Dec. 3, with Genesis Block Ventures revealing plans to work with OMG to build “lending and trading platforms” for the DeFi sector. The firm also intends to leverage its connections across Asia’s blockchain industry “to accelerate the development of OMG Network” and foster partnerships throughout the region. Genesis Block said it has engaged deeply with the DeFi sector this year, and has built relationships with leading exchanges Binance and FTX. Twitter-user ‘macro_diary’ responded to the …

SYNQA, the parent company of OMG Network formerly known as Omise Holdings, raised $80 million in a fundraising round for new cashless payment ventures. In a June 22 announcement, Thailand-based fintech company SYNQA stated it had raised $80 million in a Series C funding round led by Siam Commercial Bank subsidiary SCB 10X and the Asia-based venture capital group SPARX. Other investors included the Japan-based Toyota Financial Services Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, SMBC Venture Capital, and the Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Corporation. According to a press release from SYNQA shared with Cointelegraph, the company will use the investment to …

Uri Kolodny, co-founder and CEO of blockchain firm StarkWare, told Cointelegraph that Ethereum second-layer scalability solutions still need some work. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin claimed on June 1 that the blockchain’s layer-two scaling initial deployment has “basically” succeeded. Kolodny — on the other hand — told Cointelegraph that he is not as convinced: “I wouldn't pop the champagne bottles just yet, as many of these proposed solutions have at this point been deployed only on Twitter, not on Ethereum Mainnet.” Kolodny admitted that there are many promising developments when it comes to second-layer Ethereum scalability solutions. He explained that “there …

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that the blockchain’s layer-two scaling initial deployment has “basically” succeeded. In a June 1 tweet, Buterin claimed that most of the initial work on Ethereum’s second-level scalability solutions is nearly complete. To back his claim, Buterin linked to a tweet by Ethereum researcher Philippe Castonguay who listed a number of relevant developments and second-layer Ethereum scalability solutions that have recently launched. Castonguay noted that blockchain development firm StarkWare launched its second-layer scalability solution, as did blockchain company LoopRing. According to StarkWare, their second-layer solution attempts to address both scalability and privacy limitations on the blockchains …

Bitfinex’s Tether (USDT) stablecoin is now available on the OMG Network, a plasma-based Ethereum sidechain launched on June 1 by the project formerly known as OmiseGo. The integration, also announced on June 1, marks the first time that Tether integrated an Ethereum sidechain to boost its performance. Tether is by far the largest “gas guzzler” on the Ethereum network at 8,900 ETH (about $1.84 million) in fees spent last month, according to ETH Gas Station. This is more than the next five protocols combined, one of which is reportedly a Ponzi scheme. By delegating some of that volume to the …

Controversy has returned to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase after an altcoin it listed surged 200% in 15 minutes — only to crash immediately afterward. Currently a topic of interest on social media, Coinbase’s listing of OmiseGo (OMG), the 34th ranked cryptocurrency by market capitalization, also sparked familiar accusations of insider trading. Coinbase ‘premium’ reaches 80% “OmiseGO (OMG) is launching at http://Coinbase.com and in the iOS and Android apps within the next 15 minutes,” the company tweeted on May 21. The first day’s trading was marked by OMG trading at a significant premium over other exchanges, notably Binance. At one point, the …

Asian fintech company Omise Holdings, now goes by the name SYNQA. "Forging into 2020, this new corporate identity reinforces their position as a holding company with a portfolio of companies and as the go-to partner in Asia for all fintech and innovation matters," an April 30 statement from SYNQA said. OmiseGo conducted its ICO in 2017 Omise, under Omise Holdings, garnered significant funds for its OmiseGo payment solution during the great crypto boom several years back. The company's ICO ran during the summer of 2017, raising roughly $25 million from selling Ethereum-based OMG tokens. At a press time price of …

In a Jan. 27 post, Dragonfly Research proclaimed Plasma to be dead, noting that the Ethereum (ETH) community is converging on Optimistic Rollup, despite initial enthusiasm. The news comes in stark contrast to earlier claims by Plasma Group arguing that the technology was moving into production phase. The history of Plasma The original paper detailing the Plasma proposal was published in August 2017. In essence, Plasma was conceived as a network of sidechains attached to the main Ethereum blockchain. They would have allowed offloading of the majority of the transactional load, improving scalability by orders of magnitude. In theory. A …

OmiseGo, a finance-oriented scaling network for Ethereum (ETH), has become a member of Universal Protocol Alliance, a coalition of blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused firms. Targeting financial services and tax collection In a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Oct. 8, the startup revealed that it will incorporate the Universal Protocol Platform UPT utility token into its payment processing technology. By doing so, OmiseGo intends to let stakeholders to use UP stablecoins for financial services and tax collection, as well as collect transaction fees. Dan Schatt, co-founder of the Universal Protocol Alliance, said that OmiseGo’s technology “will help support the mass adoption …

California-based crypto wallet service Abra will restrict some services for American users starting from August. Abra will have to enforce some system modifications due to continued regulatory uncertainty in the United States, according to a blog post on July 25. Notably, American users will no longer be able to hold a number of cryptocurrencies, including EOS (EOS). U.S. users can’t hold certain altcoins Specifically, the platform will start migrating its smart contract-based synthetic assets to a native hosted wallet solution, adding that those assets are defined on Abra as anything other than Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin …