Hello OGV! Details on the Upcoming Airdrop for OGN Holders

Josh Fraser
11 min readMar 29, 2022

OGV will be distributed 1:1 to OGN holders

We recently issued a proposal on the OGN governance portal to launch a new governance token for OUSD that would be claimable by OGN holders. The proposal passed in a landslide with 99.93% of the vote. It appears our community agrees that our two product lines, Origin Dollar and Origin Story, deserve to have their own separate tokens with clear value accrual mechanisms that are clear and easy to articulate.

To get the full backstory on why Origin is launching a new token, I recommend checking out the original proposal or reviewing the transcript from our recent AMA below.

Here are the key details that every OGN holder should know:

  • Origin is launching a new ERC20 token called OGV that will be the new governance token for Origin Dollar (OUSD). The Ethereum address for OGV is 0x9c354503C38481a7A7a51629142963F98eCC12D0 or ogv.eth.
  • OGV will be claimable by OGN holders on a 1:1 basis via a Merkle-distributor contract. This includes OGN which is currently staked.
  • We are working with centralized exchanges to make sure their OGN holders also receive OGV. We will be publishing a list of which exchanges are supporting the airdrop closer to the launch. There is no need to move your OGN at this time.
  • Having a native token for OUSD will let us provide rewards directly to current and future OUSD holders and liquidity providers. This will further incentivize protocol growth and adoption.
  • OGV will use a veOGV mechanism (similar to Curve’s veCRV) that distributes economic and voting power to those most committed to the long-term success of the protocol.
  • OGN will become the value accrual token for our NFT platform, Origin Story. Users will be able to stake their OGN to earn a share of the fees that are generated via the Story smart contracts. Expect more details on the updated OGN tokenomics soon.
  • We don’t have an exact date for either the snapshot or the airdrop yet, but it will be May at the earliest. We still have a lot of work to do to get everything ready, including auditing the code, and interfacing with the 50+ exchanges that currently list OGN. Stay tuned for updates!

Below is the transcript from an AMA I did with Max Unger in our Discord last week discussing our plans in more detail.

Max: Hi @everyone, thank you for tuning in to what I’m sure will be one of our most important AMAs ever. Today we will be discussing the future of Origin and what the launch of Origin Dollar’s governance token, OGV, will mean for existing OGN holders. This is a topic which has generated a lot of buzz within the Origin community and beyond, with a lot of people wanting to know how they can claim their OGV, what its utility will be, how this affects OGN and more. To answer all those questions and more we have Origin Protocol’s cofounder, Josh Fraser, joining us today. He’s been particularly active on the DeFi side of Origin, so having him here to explain more about the OGV airdrop was only fitting. Welcome, Josh! Thank you for being here.

Josh: Thank you, it’s great to be here. Lots of exciting things happening at Origin these days! We’re happy to answer some of the questions that the community has, as well as hear their feedback.

Max: Before we dive into the community’s questions, I’ll share a quick recap on the OGV proposal that recently passed. As many already know, OGN acts as the utility and value accrual token for both Origin Dollar and Origin Story. While both of these platforms have been hugely successful in their own right, with OUSD’s TVL skyrocketing lately and Origin Story hosting several record-breaking drops, the dual-narrative around OGN has been confusing for many token holders. Thus, the proposal created on the Origin governance portal on March 10th proposed the creation of a dedicated governance token for our yield-bearing stablecoin, Origin Dollar (OUSD). This would allow each of Origin’s flagship products to have their own tokens with their own utility and narrative. After much debate and discussion, on March 17th the community voted overwhelmingly in favour of creating a new utility token to be distributed to OGN holders called OGV. You can view the entire proposal here: https://vote.originprotocol.com/#/proposal/0x0eec0d9a8294bab6ff0c073e2a73fc8eb02a3cb301c5b928d0a53f00c0ab214b

Without further ado, let’s get into the AMA! 🚀

Josh, as the author of the OGV proposal, can you please explain what led you and the team to realise that launching a token for OUSD was the best way forward?

Josh: Sure. As you mentioned at the beginning of the AMA, Origin has two flagship products, Origin Dollar and Origin Story. Both have found product-market fit and are doing extraordinarily well. We believe they both deserve to have their own tokens with clear value accrual mechanisms that are clear and easy to articulate.

What we proposed was for the creation of OGV, a dedicated governance token for Origin Dollar via a veOGV mechanism (similar to Curve) that distributes economic and voting power to those most committed to the long-term success of the protocol. veOGV stakers will be able to set protocol fees as a percentage of yield, determine asset allocation, propose new strategies, etc.

While the exact details need to be ironed out, the core team is aligned that this proposed strategy is in the best interests of all OGN holders as we seek to 10x and 100x user growth across both products. With each step forward, we will be conscious to take in community feedback with the goal of maximizing token value.

Max: I’m sure many will be happy to read that. 🙂

One thing that a lot of community members have been asking for a deeper explanation of, is why the Origin team feels this is the best approach moving forward. Can you please explain some of the challenges facing OGN’s current token model and why you think having two unique governance tokens is ultimately better?

Josh: Our recent liquidity mining campaign on Curve/Convex was a good reminder of the power of incentives to drive the adoption of Origin Dollar. It has become increasingly clear a native token for OUSD will allow us to offer more generous rewards and increase our growth rate. Ultimately, we want to see the circulating supply of OUSD measured in the billions of dollars.

Despite the tremendous customer traction, global press mentions, and maturation of our products, the price of OGN has struggled since our ATH price in April of last year. Besides the obvious impact of bearish macro trends in the last few months, we also attribute OGN’s lackluster performance to the confusing narrative from having OGN represent two completely separate products that appeal to very different audiences.

OGN holders are clamoring for clearer utility, value accrual, and updated tokenomics for both projects. It’s been a struggle to implement proper DeFi token utility while being mindful of OGN’s role as the value accrual and utility token for Origin Story.

As a result, we have a token that is used for both products but is failing to do a good job at either. In this case, the sum of the parts has been less than the individual parts. It is time to give both protocols the best chance of being top performers in the rest of 2022 and beyond.

Max: Thanks for breaking that down for us. Another question we’re frequently asked is how the new OGV tokens will be distributed. A good portion of the community is staking their OGN tokens for the long-term, while others are holding their tokens on centralised exchanges. Can you tell us more about what OGN holders can expect throughout this process?

Josh: OGV will be claimable by OGN holders on a 1:1 basis via a Merkle-distributor contract very similar to how Uniswap distributed UNI. Basically, you’ll go to a custom DApp, connect your wallet, and click a claim button.

So if you have 50 OGN, you’ll be able to claim 50 OGV, and so on. Of course, we’ll be sure to include OGN holders who are currently staking OGN.

We are also in the process of working with centralized exchanges to make sure their OGN holders also receive OGV.

Max: That’s great to hear. What will happen to OGN token holders who are unaware of the new token and don’t claim it immediately? How long will the distribution period of OGV last?

Josh: Good question. I’m actually not sure, but something between 3 months and a year seems likely.

Max: Well, that’s plenty of time then. Even the most passive of holders should hear about OGV by then. We’ll be doing a lot of work on the community and marketing side to promote the new token too. 🙂

Shifting gears a bit, what can you tell us about your plans to work with exchanges? Can you share any potential plans about getting OGV listed on major exchanges?

Josh: Sure. We are in the very early stages of creating a new token so there are several steps that we have to take in order to get a new token listed on reputable exchanges. Thankfully we had good relationships with most of them and we’ve been busy notifying them about our plans.

The most direct way for this to happen is by getting the exchanges to support the OGV airdrop. Once the new contracts have been deployed and audited, we will have a clearer picture of which exchanges will be willing to work with us on OGV.

Max: Given how well OGN has been doing lately I’m sure more than a few will be interested in supporting the airdrop! Let’s move on to some OGV-specific questions now. Can you tell us what OGV stands for?

Josh: yeah! OGN has been performing great lately. it’s been very encouraging to see the amount of attention this proposal has garnered from the community.

Max: People love free tokens! Not to mention this is great for the fundamentals of both products.

Josh: OGV stands for “Origin Dollar Governance” or “OUSD Governance” if you prefer. We want to make it super clear what the purpose of this token is for & why you might want to hold it.

Max: Given that OGV will be a DeFi token, have you given much thought to its supply? Will it be unlimited like OUSD or will it follow the same total supply as OGN of 1 billion?

Josh: We’re still finalizing the proposed tokenomics. Beyond the promised 1:1 airdrop to OGN holders, we also want to figure out how to reward OUSD holders and liquidity providers. The trick is doing this in a responsible and sustainable way.

Max: That makes a lot of sense. Our initial testing using OGN as a reward for OUSD holders was very successful and only required us to use a very small amount of tokens. I’m sure we’ll continue that approach of being responsible with our token rewards. 🙂

Regarding OGVs role as a governance token, will this lead to the decentralisation of OUSD? And what if there are bad actors with large sums of OGV? Are there any plans to avoid OGV holders voting against the best interests of OUSD holders?

Josh: One of the great things about the veToken model that we’re borrowing from Curve is that it incentivizes long-term holders. The majority of voting and economic power is given to those who are willing to lock up for multiple years. This makes it very hard to attack the network without taking on multi-year volatility risk. One of the reasons it’s so important to also distribute OGV to OUSD holders is so they have a voice in how their funds are governed.

loving all the emoji responses, btw! well except for the angry ones 😉

Max: Great explanation and you make a strong case for why having a separate token for OUSD works so well.

Our next question was one of our most asked questions. I have paraphrased them into one direct question to keep the AMA within the allotted time. Josh, how would you explain this new token model to someone who may be worried about any potential dilution of one token at the expense of the other?

Josh: Great question. It’s something we thought about deeply before issuing this proposal. We also did a lot of research into other projects that have gone through similar transitions. We’re watching as Gnosis launches tokens for Cowswap (COW) and Gnosis Safe (SAFE) on top of their original token GNO. We watched the BOBA airdrop to all OMG holders and observed how the combined market cap of both projects is higher today than it was before the airdrop (despite a massive market correction to both tokens). In short, we believe having separate tokens for each product will deliver a better outcome for all current OGN holders, resulting in holders now having two tokens that each have clear narratives, utilities, and value accrual mechanisms, priming them for positive growth.

Max: I couldn’t agree more. DeFi and NFTs are very different verticals of crypto, so having one token for both products was always a challenge. Now with OGN and OGV the narrative, utility, and value accrual for both tokens will be a lot clearer.

What comes next then for OGV and OGN? No doubt this is a massive undertaking for the team. And at the community level, how are you thinking about communicating milestones for Origin Dollar and Origin Story? Will there be any changes from how things are done now?

Josh: There is a ton of work taking place already to get the new contracts ready and audited. We’re finalizing the tokenomics, writing the new vote locking and governance contracts, and making sure that OGV will be integrated into all the various wallets, exchanges, etc. As usual, we do most of our work in public here at Origin. All the code for OUSD is open-source on Github and most of our discussions and collaboration happens right here in Discord. We’ll also be sharing the big announcements via email and social media so people don’t miss them. As a side note, our "default to public" culture makes Origin a great fit for people who are interested in getting involved with a web3 project. There are few projects that make it easier to jump in and just start contributing.

Max: Well said. If anyone is looking to make the jump to Web3 we have plenty of open positions! 😄

I’m sure I speak for most of the community when I say we’re looking forward to you sharing more details as they develop.

That brings us to the end of our first AMA discussing the future or Origin and OGV. Thank you @Josh Fraser for taking the time to answer some of the most asked questions from the community!

As a note for anyone who asked a question that wasn’t answered, please feel free to leave your comments in the discussion channel where our community team will be glad to answer all your questions related to OGV and OGN. We will also be keeping this channel up for the next week so everyone has a chance to read over the AMA in case you missed anything. Finally, remember to follow our official announcements channel for all the latest updates. We’ll be sure to have plenty more to share about OGV in the near future.

Josh: Thanks @Max and everyone! Appreciate you all stopping by. I’ll hang around for a bit to answer any other questions that didn’t get answered yet. Our entire team is here in Discord so it’s always pretty easy to get in touch with us if you ever have any questions or feedback along the way.

Thanks for being a part of the Origin community!

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Josh Fraser
Josh Fraser

Written by Josh Fraser

Co-founder at Origin. Previously founded EventVue, Torbit & Forage. Engineer & rock climber.

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