Despite ongoing scalability issues, Bitcoin (BTC) remains the top cryptocurrency. Being the first-ever cryptocurrency, it has a solid reputation and is still seen as a worthwhile investment. Besides the likes of Dogecoin, its logo can also still be called the most easily recognizable in the crypto game.
Still, if you’re looking to make any money from a crypto investment, you may want to look elsewhere. You’d need to invest a lot into Bitcoin to see any form of return.
The OSMO coin is a governance coin on the Osmosis AMM protocol. When diversifying your crypto wallet, should you invest in OSMO? Here’s everything you need to know about the coin in comparison to BTC. Use this investment advice to determine whether it’s worth buying OSMO.
History
The history of Bitcoin dates back to the ancient history of cryptocurrency, being the first ever crypto coin. Osmosis, on the other hand, only dates back to recent modern crypto history.
Bitcoin (BTC)
Bitcoin first became a buzzword around 2009, when the coin was officially launched. Having issued the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008, the mysterious figure Satoshi Nakamoto made history by launching the first-ever cryptocurrency a year later. However, Nakamoto is shrouded in mystery. It is unknown whether ‘Nakamoto’ refers to a single person or a group of people.
Over the next decade, Bitcoin emerged as the leader of a new era of investment banking. Along with other leading coins, it uprooted brokers and introduced the blockchain to the world. Like many leading coins, Bitcoin has witnessed several crashes over the years. Despite this, Bitcoin remains the number 1 cryptocurrency.
Osmosis (OSMO)
A major change happened to the cryptocurrency world around 2017. Not only was ‘cryptocurrency’ becoming the buzzword that it is today, but major changes were also affecting how crypto was exchanged online. One source of this change was the introduction of automated market makers (AMMs).
AMMs witnessed order books being replaced by liquidity pools. This spawned many new protocols that challenged the old cryptocurrency order. One such AMM protocol was Osmosis.
First introduced in 2020, the Osmosis platform and the OSMO coin were officially launched on June 19th, 2021. It was created using the Cosmos ecosystem. OSMO is notable as being the 6th platform to connect with the Cosmos Hub.
What Are They, And Why Were They Created?
Given their different histories, it’s safe to say that the OSMO token and BTC are completely different investment assets. Let’s take a look at what they are and specifically what their purpose is:
Bitcoin (BTC)
Bitcoin can be seen as cryptocurrency in its purest form. It simply exists as a virtual currency for investors to make purchases, trades, and other transactions online. Little has changed about Bitcoin since its launch.
Not only can it be used to make online exchanges, but it can be used to make ‘real life’ transactions. This has been going on since 2010, when Bitcoin was used to purchase a physical pizza.
Specifically, why Bitcoin was invented remains up for debate. Many people view it as a direct response to the worldwide financial crash in 2008. This financial situation inspired distrust in traditional banks. This distrust grew into a need for a new way to invest money. Some claim it was introduced simply to make online purchases easier.
Osmosis (OSMO)
As an AMM, Osmosis specializes in the InterchainDeFi movement. This is a blockchain based on Tendermint. Within Osmosis, the OSMO token can be used to stake, vote, and add liquidity to the platform’s pools.
At a basic level, the OSMO token is a staking coin. Delegators and validators can use it to produce new blocks and verify transactions.
The Osmosis platform aims to revolutionize AMMs. Instead of supporting a standard liquidity pool, Osmosis has created a sandbox. Within this sandbox, investors in the OSMO coin can create new AMM designs. Basically, the purpose of this decentralized exchange is to give investors greater control of the liquidity pools.
Price History
While the price history of Bitcoin and Osmosis may be massively different, it’s still worth comparing the two. This will give you a better understanding of their current value and help you predict their future value.
Bitcoin (BTC)
According to CoinMarketCap Bitcoin statistics, the current market value of Bitcoin is $16,799.88. Bitcoin has experienced a sharp decline in recent months. Around October 2022, a Bitcoin was worth nearly 21K.
However, this is still nowhere near the lowest point of Bitcoin’s value history. Single Bitcoins could be bought for just $0.003 in October 2011. It is also a lot lower than the peak of its value, which was $65,000 in November 2021.
Osmosis (OSMO)
An OSMO coin is currently worth $0.93, according to crypto.com‘s coin statistics. So, if you’d like to convert OSMO for USD, you’d currently receive less than $1 per coin.
Based on data provided by CoinGecko, the coin peaked in march 2022. At this point, a single OSMO coin was worth $11.18. Osmosis success dropped in the proceeding months. The coin dipped to its lowest point in June of 2022. In June, the coin was worth $0.78.
Since then, the coin has steadily remained below the $1 mark. This is partly due to the state of the Cosmos ecosystem. Despite this low value, the OSMO price prediction is looking favorable for the coin.
Market Cap
The market cap is different from the market value. The market cap reflects how much all the tokens are worth collectively.
Bitcoin
The current market cap of Bitcoin is $323,784,908,196.
Osmosis
Osmosis currently has a market cap of $452,986,710.
Daily Transactions
Examining the value of a cryptocurrency is important when making an investment decision. However, it’s also valuable to look at the exact number of daily transactions that are taking place.
Bitcoin
Based on Ycharts’ indicators, the current BTC rate is at 262,438 per day. Ycharts has several important BTC chart information that could be of value to you.
Osmosis
The amount of token swaps that Osmosis sees per day is currently unknown. However, based on data gathered by MintScan, the coin has had 113,710,863 transactions in total.
Block Size
Block size is the data capacity of a cryptocurrency. If a cryptocurrency has a large block size capacity, then many transactions can be conducted per second. Conversely, if a cryptocurrency has a small block size, only a very limited amount of transactions can be completed at one time.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin infamously has a small block size of 1MB. This means that the cryptocurrency can store only 2,000 transactions at one time. This is relatively small to other, newer cryptocurrencies.
It was Bitcoin that introduced block size in the first place. It was to prevent mining blocks that were too large to be accepted. Bitcoin has had a block size of 1MB since 2010.
Osmosis
The block size of OSMO is unknown. However, it is safe to assume it is somewhere around the average block size capacity. The average capacity of a block is 1.43.
Similarities
Despite their glaring differences, there are some similarities between OSMO and BTC, including the following:
- Readily available: Both OSMO and BTC are available to buy from the Coinbase wallet.
- Liquidity pools: OSMO and BTC can be put into liquidity pools.
Differences
Based on the current BTC chart, OSMO is a very different coin from BTC. Here are the main differences between the coins:
- Based on different blockchains: OSMO is part of the Cosmos Hub. BTC, on the other hand, is based on the SHA-256 algorithm.
- Different purposes: Osmosis is an AMMs, while Bitcoin is merely an online currency.
- Features: Osmosis has its own liquidity pools. If you’d like to put BTC into a liquidity pool, you’d have to visit separate liquidity providers.
Risks
As with all cryptocurrencies, almost every element of both Bitcoin and Osmosis is at risk. The crypto world is a risky game to get into, specifically for the following reasons:
Bitcoin
- Bitcoin has been infamously volatile in the past. It could potentially crash at any given time.
- Cryptocurrency could be subject to sudden regulation in your country, as has been the case with Bitcoin in the past.
Osmosis
- Despite its relatively short existence, Osmosis has been hacked before. This happened in June 2022 and resulted in a loss of $5 million.
- Osmosis has only existed for a limited time. Time will tell whether or not it is a good investment.
Where to Buy
You can buy each coin in the following places:
Bitcoin
OSMO
- Osmosis
- Binance
- Bitrue
- Coinbase
- Bitget
- Bkex
- CoinEx
Exchanging OSMO for BTC
You’re probably wondering if there’s anywhere to exchange OSMO for BTC or vice versa. You can exchange OSMO for BTC on Coinbase and Binance.
Future Plans
Given how volatile the cryptocurrency world is, being able to present a solid roadmap is important for all cryptocurrencies. This goes for established cryptos (like Bitcoin) but, most importantly, up-and-coming coins, like OSMO. New cryptos still have to prove themselves, so the coin’s roadmap can be a key factor in determining whether to invest or not.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin has maintained the top spot at the top of the crypto game for a while now. It is assumed that Bitcoin will continue to focus on staying in the no.1 spot in the future.
Osmosis
The Osmosis platform plans to continue to connect IBC-enabled chains. In late 2022 and early 2023, the Osmosis platform also plans to implement an ETH bridge. The current Osmosis price prediction suggests that OSMO will increase in value.
https://coincentral.com/osmosis-osmo-guide/
https://decrypt.co/102300/cosmos-based-defi-exchange-osmosis-hit-by-5m-exploit
https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/osmosis/btc
https://capital.com/amp/osmosis-osmo-price-prediction
https://cryptobriefing.com/undercover-bitcoin-maxi-a-talk-with-osmosis-co-founder-sunny-aggarwal/