Talking about NDAs only leads to speculation about things we aren't able to talk about.
There is a growing concern that Omise merchants will not want to use the OMG network due to the hassle of it all and the effort of implementing/understanding how to use the new system, can you confirm if any of your merchants/Omise customers have shown interest in onboarding once the network is live
There are a couple of different levels of involvement when we talk about Omise customers; it's important to separate eWallet integration from OMG running in the background for Omise's own backend.
Omise Payment Gateway has several backends with a sophisticated routing system that allows routing of transactions for certain merchants using certain payment methods to a certain backend. OMG can be one of the backends, and in those situations (which to be clear apply to certain transaction types and not others) customers would not need to be aware of OMG running in the background.
The Omise backend integration is a purely technical undertaking, whereas eWallet adoption is a question of incentive structure and business development. It is a goal to bring additional volume to the network by getting Omise merchants involved with the eWallet as well. We won't force merchants to switch away from payment gateway; we'll focus instead on building an incentive structure such that it makes business sense to have both payment options.
The practical plan and incentive structure is still being worked on, and will be honed during the testnet stage. Most Omise customers, as implied in this question, want a plug-and-play solution; so it's best not to try and push the eWallet on anyone before it's ready to serve their needs without much hassle - i.e. after we've had some time to see how it works in the real world and refine our approach accordingly.
Has Kelvin Fichter left the team as his role has changed from researcher to advisor? With David committed to Bitfish and Kelvin seemingly stepping down a little bit, who is leading plasma research for OmiseGO?
It wouldn't really be accurate to say anyone is "leading plasma research" because we're not actively researching anything specific to OMG at the moment. Kasima Tharnpipitchai, Director of Engineering – Plasma, is leading plasma development. Although the main focus right now is implementing our current design rather than active exploratory research, we still have team members who follow and contribute to current general research like that being led by Kelvin's new team (see below). Once significant new OMG-specific research becomes a need again, we'll start building a dedicated research team more agressively.
Kelvin has stepped into a leadership role in generalized plasma research (and we couldn't be more proud!) which means he's moved away from being involved in the day to day at OmiseGO. Of course we miss having his undivided attention, but the work he's doing is extremely valuable for OMG as well and he remains an active advisor. Kelvin addressed this in his own words here.
Finally, David is indeed committed to Bitfish, but that doesn't mean he isn't also committed to OMG. He took on this dual role because he felt he had the energy and headspace to contribute meaningfully to both projects, and although we do sometimes wonder how he finds time to sleep, he's kept up on his responsibilities with OmiseGO and continues to provide tremendous value.
Are you looking into possible solutions for privacy? For instance the protocol layer of Enigma and «secret» smart contracts.
Smart contract privacy isn’t applicable at the moment as we don’t currently support smart contracts on Plasma, but we are researching solutions for transaction privacy. We don’t have anything specific to say about it at the moment - it’s an interest but not a high priority right now.
Have you discovered new use cases for the OMG Network?
Of course! OMG was originally envisioned as a wallet-to-wallet transfer network, secured by Ethereum, with a built-in DEX layer that would allow for frictionless transactions between tokenized fiat, crypto and other assets like loyalty points. But we’ve seen many creative applications - one of the ones that surprised us most is interest from several parties in applying loyalty points in human resource management, to reward employees for good behavior and encourage participation in training programs; which employees would then be able to redeem for various rewards or even cash.
nebali
commented
5 years ago
OmiseGO AMA 11
OmiseGO AMA 11 - January 11, 2019
How many NDAs are still active at this time?
Talking about NDAs only leads to speculation about things we aren't able to talk about.
There is a growing concern that Omise merchants will not want to use the OMG network due to the hassle of it all and the effort of implementing/understanding how to use the new system, can you confirm if any of your merchants/Omise customers have shown interest in onboarding once the network is live
There are a couple of different levels of involvement when we talk about Omise customers; it's important to separate eWallet integration from OMG running in the background for Omise's own backend.
Omise Payment Gateway has several backends with a sophisticated routing system that allows routing of transactions for certain merchants using certain payment methods to a certain backend. OMG can be one of the backends, and in those situations (which to be clear apply to certain transaction types and not others) customers would not need to be aware of OMG running in the background.
The Omise backend integration is a purely technical undertaking, whereas eWallet adoption is a question of incentive structure and business development. It is a goal to bring additional volume to the network by getting Omise merchants involved with the eWallet as well. We won't force merchants to switch away from payment gateway; we'll focus instead on building an incentive structure such that it makes business sense to have both payment options.
The practical plan and incentive structure is still being worked on, and will be honed during the testnet stage. Most Omise customers, as implied in this question, want a plug-and-play solution; so it's best not to try and push the eWallet on anyone before it's ready to serve their needs without much hassle - i.e. after we've had some time to see how it works in the real world and refine our approach accordingly.
Has Kelvin Fichter left the team as his role has changed from researcher to advisor? With David committed to Bitfish and Kelvin seemingly stepping down a little bit, who is leading plasma research for OmiseGO?
It wouldn't really be accurate to say anyone is "leading plasma research" because we're not actively researching anything specific to OMG at the moment. Kasima Tharnpipitchai, Director of Engineering – Plasma, is leading plasma development. Although the main focus right now is implementing our current design rather than active exploratory research, we still have team members who follow and contribute to current general research like that being led by Kelvin's new team (see below). Once significant new OMG-specific research becomes a need again, we'll start building a dedicated research team more agressively.
Kelvin has stepped into a leadership role in generalized plasma research (and we couldn't be more proud!) which means he's moved away from being involved in the day to day at OmiseGO. Of course we miss having his undivided attention, but the work he's doing is extremely valuable for OMG as well and he remains an active advisor. Kelvin addressed this in his own words here.
Finally, David is indeed committed to Bitfish, but that doesn't mean he isn't also committed to OMG. He took on this dual role because he felt he had the energy and headspace to contribute meaningfully to both projects, and although we do sometimes wonder how he finds time to sleep, he's kept up on his responsibilities with OmiseGO and continues to provide tremendous value.
Are you looking into possible solutions for privacy? For instance the protocol layer of Enigma and «secret» smart contracts.
Smart contract privacy isn’t applicable at the moment as we don’t currently support smart contracts on Plasma, but we are researching solutions for transaction privacy. We don’t have anything specific to say about it at the moment - it’s an interest but not a high priority right now.
Have you discovered new use cases for the OMG Network?
Of course! OMG was originally envisioned as a wallet-to-wallet transfer network, secured by Ethereum, with a built-in DEX layer that would allow for frictionless transactions between tokenized fiat, crypto and other assets like loyalty points. But we’ve seen many creative applications - one of the ones that surprised us most is interest from several parties in applying loyalty points in human resource management, to reward employees for good behavior and encourage participation in training programs; which employees would then be able to redeem for various rewards or even cash.