Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology have been making their way into the art world through the increasing popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). We’re seeing original digital artwork in the shape of NFTs sell for tens of millions of dollars, including art pieces and music artwork. Moreover, this digital art realm has expanded into gaming, for example, Cryptokitties, and now it’s beginning to embrace television characters with ECOMI. The growing popularity of NFTs and their expanding usage possibilities have opened up a new box in the path to a digitalized world. These possibilities for growth are gaining traction in the crypto world, and ECOMI wants to take full advantage of them.
What Is ECOMI?
ECOMI is the Singapore-based company behind the OMI coin, which is its native coin, the secure ECOMI wallet, and the VeVe platform. Its aim is to bring popular culture into the digital age, with its primary aspirations revolving around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their creation. ECOMI sees a huge future in NFTs, not only as digital artworks, but also as interactive experiences — forget digital artwork on a USB stick, think 3D artwork creations of your favorite characters in your virtual reality (VR) headsets, or battling virtual 3D NFT Pokémon cards.
ECOMI was founded in 2017, but it really began to soar with the launch of its VeVe platform in December 2020. The fact that it is so new means that it is still developing, but with the appointment of Alfred Khan as its head of licensing, we can see which way it is headed. Khan is behind major licensing deals, including Pokémon, Legend of Zelda, James Bond, and Lord of the Rings. With his skillset and the company’s aims, we can expect to start seeing NFTs created around major collectible characters, such as superheroes, sports personalities, and people in the entertainment industry.
Licensing agreements with the likes of Cartoon Network and DC Comics may seem far-fetched, but as NFTs grow in popularity, large corporations with valuable cultural IP will be looking to cash in. Building a blockchain and NFT creation platform is expensive and time-consuming, so it will only be logical for these companies to look to existing ones to develop their vision. Pop culture in films, cartoons, and especially comic books, has an enormous fan base and huge potential for profitability. One only needs to look at the popularity of character card trading in the real world to see the potential of one of these industries alone, gaming for example. Soon, accessing, viewing, owning, playing, swapping, and trading NFTs may be an equally big business.
What is the OMI Token?
The OMI token is ECOMI’s native token and as with most platforms, is used to run the network. With a supply of 750 billion tokens, though only 22% is currently in circulation, OMI has been created in huge volume. However, the token differs from many others in that it is deflationary, meaning that as OMI is spent on NFTs, this amount will be burned out of the ecosystem. This means that as time goes by, fewer tokens will be in circulation, which could push the value upward as supply diminishes and demand increases.
Additionally, the OMI token can be used to purchase additional benefits and services within the ECOMI ecosystem.
What Is the VeVe Platform?
The VeVe platform, previously known as ECOMI Collect, aims to be the future platform for digital pop-culture collections. Here, NFTs are created for pop-culture icons — as licensing agreements are negotiated — with the opportunity for OMI holders to buy, swap, trade, game, and show off their NFT assets. A show of how quickly licensing agreements are being put in place is evident from the next drop — Marvel’s Captain America. The platform offers two wallets:
- An OMI Wallet, where investors can hold their tokens before making any purchases. This wallet can be used by those who are not necessarily looking to buy NFTs but to make a profit from the ECOMI itself. It can also be used as a storing wallet for OMI tokens before NFT purchases are made.
- A Gems wallet, which allows a user to trade their OMI for Gems to then purchase NFTs. This is done due to the volatility of OMI; if the prices of NFTs shifted as much as the token price, it would cause instability in the system and irritation to purchasers. Gems are pegged 1:1 to the USD, however, to ensure no change in value, users must switch their USD to OMI and then immediately to Gems. Any hesitation could result in a change of OMI’svalue and a subsequent decrease or increase of USD available to convert to Gems.
VeVe offers three grades of NFTs: common, rare, and one-of-a-kind, with prices varying according to their rarity. This also works to fuel collectors’ interest in original pieces, while not alienating those with less to spend. Additionally, the platform has various other aspects, including virtual showrooms where collectors can display their NFTs, and even gaming functions.
What Is the ECOMI Secure Wallet?
The secure wallet was one of ECOMI’s initial offerings. It markets itself as offering top-of-the-range security at a very competitive price. First, it is a cold wallet, meaning that it never connects to the internet and thus makes it that much harder to hack. Despite never connecting to the internet, however, it is easily connectable to a user’s devices, as it is wireless. Second, it is around the same shape and size as a credit card, meaning that it is easily storable and accessible. In addition, it is waterproof and slightly bendable. Third, and most importantly, the wallet offers a robust restoration and loss function, meaning that if lost or broken, the owner will not lose access to their assets.
The wallet is compatible with multiple currencies, and the list is growing. Additionally, it does not charge fees, beyond standard blockchain fees. As a comparison, the ECOMI Secure Wallet costs $99, while Ledger Nano is $105, and Keep Key is $125. However, despite the wallet’s advantages, what really sets ECOMI apart is its work in the NFT space.
What Are ECOMI’s Drawbacks?
ECOMI is ahead of the curve in its niche and has definitely tapped into a very profitable industry that has yet to enter the digital sphere in any big way. However, it still has some issues that will need fixing if it is to continue growing and increasing in value.
- Currently, OMI is only available on a very limited amount of exchanges, which are mostly centralized. For a decentralized exchange option, it can only be traded on UniSwap in its wrapped form (WOMI). This makes it difficult to buy, other than with Ether (ETH), and adds time to the transaction due to its complexity.
- Once OMI has been traded for Gems, it is impossible to trade them back. This means that any Gems that are not spent are rendered useless unless a decision is made to invest in an NFT. However, an upgrade is due this year, though it has been postponed, which will allow the reversal of Gems to OMI.
- The site has some issues. Due to the unprecedented growth of the platform, the site has been shut down a few times for maintenance and upgrades. In the long run, these will help improve the platform, but at the moment this can be frustrating and waver confidence in its ability, especially when one has money invested.
ECOMI(OMI) Price Analysis
ECOMI has tapped into many aspects that could trigger growth – cryptocurrency, secure wallets, and NFTs drawing from gaming and pop culture. For these reasons alone growth can be expected, but as with any asset in this sector, it is still volatile.
Today, OMI is priced at around $0.005 per token, with a market cap of around $770 million. As with most cryptocurrencies, March saw OMI on a bull run, with an increase taking it past $0.01 per token. This was a rise that was largely down to Tesla buying $1.5 billion dollars of crypto, Paypal introducing crypto purchases in the U.S. market, and a general increase in the perceived legitimacy of cryptocurrency. This, however, was followed by the 2021 crypto crash, largely due to China’s U-turn on digital currencies and a subsequent near mining black-out. Here, IMO dropped back down, reaching around $0.002 in May and just above $0.001 in June. Since then, however, it has been on a near-continuous rise, having increased threefold.
With new licensing agreements on the horizon, and upgrades coming any day now, including trading of Gems to OMI, OMI looks to continue on this bullish path. Moreover, with the reopening of cinemas and popular culture events after the pandemic, more films will be released, which will lead to the creation of new and hot NFTs. This will mean more ECOMI customers and more media coverage, which will funnel more investors. All things considered then, although OMI is bound to fluctuate, as any other cryptocurrency, it has a very bright future ahead.
Conclusion
ECOMI has a great offering that with the right leadership could become explosive. By tapping into popular culture and gaming, it has accessed a huge fanbase of loyal, young, tech-savvy individuals. This means that not only could it grow exponentially now, but also in the future. If it creates the right NFTs for its userbase, there is no reason for it not to retain its current clients as well as grow as younger users join the space.
There is of course the possibility that another platform will come along and replicate ECOMI’s VeVe, thereby taking some of its customs. However, thanks to ECOMI’s time lead and its team of experts, not only in tech but also in pop culture itself, it has a good edge. Additionally, as NFTs grow in popularity, the established userbase and technology will help drive corporations, such as Marvel and Disney, to ECOMI, as these businesses run to cash-in. ECOMI still has some issues to resolve, but its offering is innovative and very current, so as long as the team behind it continues to listen to users’ wants its value should continue to increase.
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