As governments worldwide sound alarm over the new COVID-19 variant, a digital token called “Omicron,” the same name as the new variant, is enjoying its moment. This cryptocurrency is reported to have surged 900% in the last few days. As such, crypto enthusiasts are jubilant and capitalizing their way to the top.
According to CoinMarketCap, Omicron (OMIC) has been up 35.27% in the last 24 hours. The DeFi token was launched at the beginning of November and was trading steadily at $65 until the detection of the new variant, which took OMI to new highs of $689, up close to 1,000%. Each OMIC token is backed by a basket of assets – giving it an intrinsic value that it cannot fall below.
Omicron cryptocurrency is a decentralized reserve currency protocol, which is available on the Arbitrum network based on the OMIC token. Each token is backed by a hoard of assets in the OMIC treasury. The OMIC introduces unique economic and game-theoretic dynamics through staking and bonding cryptos.
Moreover, analysts point out that OMIC outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) and Enthereum (ETH) over the panic-ridden weekend. However, they also said that this was a one-off and didn’t mean anything. Bitcoin, the world’s popular cryptocurrency, took a hit – dropping by more than 8% as investors dumped stocks and other riskier assets, favoring the dollar before anything else.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has labeled omicron as a “variant of concern” and raised the alarm about the very high global risk of surges as more countries reported cases of the new variant. The WHO has a policy of naming the variants after Greek alphabets, whereby the fast-spreading B.1.1.529 strain is named after the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet – omicron.
