Omen (OMN)

Basics

• Based in:
• Founded in: 7-2020
• Testnet release:
• Mainnet release:
• Omen is a decentralization prediction market platform launched, maintained, and governed by the DXdao. The DXdao built Omen on an open framework developed by Gnosis for prediction markets.

Token

Launch

• From the DXdao blog (5-6-2021):

"The Omen community is eagerly anticipating the launch of OMN token and Omen Guild. Omen liquidity mining is notable as it seeks to eliminate any actions that the user must take in order to receive liquidity rewards, resulting in some contract adjustments. One of the exciting changes associated with these contract modifications is a protocol fee managed by the Omen Guild."

Tech

• Whitepaper can be found [insert here].
• Code can be viewed [insert here].
• Built on: xDai

How it works

• From Blockonomi (13-7-2020):

"Whereas other blockchain prediction projects have typically relied on conventional orderbooks, Omen facilitates liquidity using an automated market maker (AMM) system that matches trades in a manner akin to Uniswap. Moreover, Omen’s creators have explicitly designed the platform to be modular and open so that it can be extended organically as time goes on. The project’s reliance on external oracles is also a point of contrast from its main peer Augur, which has developed its own in-house oracle."

• From an interview with DeFi Prime (9-8-2020):

"Omen entered development, with the concept of having a Uniswap-like automated market maker to allow traders to trade frictionlessly within each prediction market. Markets are resolved by Realit.io and arbitrated by Kleros.io. A development shop named Protofire developed the first version of Omen under a GECO grant. The DXdao has been carrying this work forward."

• From the FAQ:

"Once a market is Closed, the outcome is then determined by the market reporter Realitio , a mechanism for verifying real-world events for smart contracts. Most markets will be resolved following that. In some cases, a market outcome will be contested where users can pay for rounds of arbitration until the matter is resolved, or users wish to no longer pay for arbitration. When a prediction market reaches its resolution date, the outcome is determined by Realitio . Users on Realitio post bonds for their chosen outcomes, and they can be challenged by someone posting a new answer, and doubling the bond. This may happen for several cycles until the posting stops, and the answer is determined by the last one to post their bond. If someone doesn’t agree with Realitio’s outcome as a market reporter, they can dispute it through realitio by requesting Kleros to arbitrate the dispute. Kleros selects a randomized subset of jurors from a juror pool by sortition and applies game-theoretical incentivization to align the pseudonymous voters to consensus. Those who stake on the correct outcomes collect from those who staked on the incorrect outcome. In the future, the DXdao, the self-governing organization behind Omen, could also function as a competent arbiter."

Other Details

• From 3Box it's twitter (1-7-2020):

"The @Omen_eth prediction market by @Dxdao_ is live using @3boxdb for decentralized commenting. Also uses @graphprotocol @BalancerLabs @IPFS @ensdomains @daostack @gnosisSafe. Such an awesome display of decentralization at its finest."

Privacy Method

Compliance

• From an interview with DeFi Prime (9-8-2020):

"DXdao is taking the far end of the decentralization spectrum. It is global, pseudonymous, permissionless, and unstoppable. There are no shareholders, or CEO. It is an amorphous community building cool stuff."

Oracle Method

• Oracles are specified on a case-by-case basis by the market creator. For example, Augur could be used as an oracle for an Omen market.
• API3 requested to integrate, and DXdao approved (21-1-2021).

Governance

DAO

• Governed by the DXdao.
• There are discussions (8-8-2020) in the DXdao community about delegating aspects of Omen governance to a community completely focused on Omen. 

Roadmap

• Can be found [Insert link here].
• There are discussions (8-8-2020) in the DXdao community about delegating aspects of Omen governance to a community completely focused on Omen. 

Audits

• Bug bounty program can be found [insert here].

Competition

• Augur

• From the announcement (1-7-2020):

"Both Gnosis and Augur embrace decentralization as a core value, but our approaches to building prediction market infrastructure have a few core differences. Built on the conditional token framework developed by Gnosis, the DXdao launched Omen to bring enhanced liquidity, modularity, and permissionless interoperability to prediction markets. Augur’s approach has fundamentally tackled prediction markets from another angle: the oracle problem.

Central to Augur’s design is its focus on having a decentralized oracle. All holders of Augur’s $REP token, referred to as “Reporters,” have the ability to influence any Augur prediction market’s resolved outcome. After a market passes its resolution date, an Initial Reporter—who is a $REP token holder and usually the market’s creator—sets the market’s “Tentative Winning Outcome,” which other $REP token holders can then dispute by staking $REP on another outcome. A combination of financial incentives and windows for dispute in the Augur oracle system creates a decentralized reporting tool to bring real-world events onto the Ethereum blockchain. This is an incredibly useful facet of Augur’s design, and in fact, its oracle system could be specified as the arbitrator to resolve market outcomes on Omen.

In consideration of liquidity, markets on Augur v2 use an off-chain orderbook powered by 0x protocol. In this orderbook implementation, orders are collected off-chain, with on-chain order settlement. While orders are shared across the peer-to-peer network with more efficient discovery mechanisms in 0x protocol v3, the system still relies on synchronous token pair orders, whereas automated market makers like Omen’s create larger Uniswap-like liquidity pools for token pairs."

• From an interview with DeFi Prime (9-8-2020):

"There are a couple of competitors out there, such as Poly Market and Augur. We believe we have an edge due to Omen’s swift onboarding process through Metamask and Wallet Connect. Markets are very easy to create, and thus far Omen is doing well in terms of liquidity and activity."

Team, Funding, Partnerships, etc.

Team

• Full team can be found [here].

Funding

• From an interview with DeFi Prime (9-8-2020):

"The business model for Omen involves fees for trading outcome tokens within a prediction market. While at the moment, fees are directed towards liquidity providers, in the future there may be a frontend fee directed towards the DXtrust, allowing for 10% of revenues to be retained as liquidity for the curve, while 90% would go directly towards the DXdao treasury. The DXdao intends to establish an active and loyal community before incorporating a revenue structure."

Partners 

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