As the world is hit by yet another variant of the COVID-19 virus, cryptocurrency traders rejoice. The new variant has been named Omicron, keeping the names of the mutated variants in the Greek Alphabet family.

As the mutated variant wreaks havoc on the world, a relatively unknown cryptocurrency with the same name sees its price rise giving its traders almost 1000% returns in profit. The value of the cryptocurrency shot up almost 900% within two days outperforming Bitcoin and Ethereum.

What Is Omicron? 

In the new age world of cryptocurrency, Omicron is the name of one of the many cryptocurrencies roaming around the market. According to Coinmarket, a cryptocurrency data platform, it isa decentralized reserve currency protocol available on the Arbitrum Network.”

Coincidentally, the World Health Organization (WHO) skipped the two letters of the Greek Alphabet, namely Nu and Xi and went directly to Omicron. The devastating news of the new variant causing a rise in the number of cases worldwide somehow gave Omicron Coin, the cryptocurrency, the boost it required and its value surged up to 10 times its original value.

Coinmarket reports that the price of Omicron surged to $688 (Rs. 52, 000) from $70 (Rs. 5, 300) within an hour. Omicron Coin was trading at $324.73 last Wednesday according to the website.

As of 9:27 am IST on 8th of December, Wednesday, Omicron Coin was trading at $72.22 (Rs. 5, 445) and reports say that the value has gone down by 39.25% in the past 24 hours. 

“OMIC appears to have outperformed the likes of BTC (bitcoin) and ETH (Ethereum) over the weekend, but that doesn’t mean it’s a worthwhile investment. Little is known about this decentralized finance project, and robust data surrounding the project is proving hard to come by. Omicron’s official website describes itself as a “decentralized currency protocol built on Arbitrum,” Coinmarket noted in a blog post.

Coinmarket has warned investors to exercise caution and not get blown up by the rapid rise of the currency as it might not be a worthwhile investment like Bitcoin and Ethereum even though it has outperformed both.

“Little is known about this decentralized finance project, and robust data surrounding the project is proving hard to come by,” the site has added. 

A Word Of Caution

Many cryptocurrencies such as the “squid game” currency and dogecoin have been doing the rounds as well as many based on memes and such. The value of these have been fluctuating whereas the values of popular ones like Bitcoin remain more or less stable.


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The buzz over the COVID-19 variant is definitely not over but the hype over the currency rose and fell like a wave. The rollercoaster ride of the currency rose and fell after just three days by rising almost 1000% and then falling to three-fourths of its value. The coin can be traded on only one platform, Sushiswap, while its origins remain unknown. 

“It suddenly gained attention after the WHO named the new Covid strain Omicron in a bizarre coincidence. The price of the token shot up without any actual reason. It is similar to how Elon Musk mentioning Doge or Shiba Inu caused a short-term effect in the tokens,” says Ishan Arora, a partner at Tykhe Block Ventures.

An extremely similar surge was noticed in the currency named after the show “Squid Game” despite the lack of relation between the show and the cryptocurrency. The value of the currency fell disastrously as the currency was exposed as a scam where people lost millions and the scammers disappeared with all of the money. 

A fact of interest here remains that the World Health Organization(WHO) is going to keep naming mutated COVID-19 variants after Greek Alphabets and the next alphabet, Pi, also has a cryptocurrency named after it!


Image Sources: Google Images

Source: IndianExpress, NDTV, TheHindu, EconomicTimes, Coinmarketcap +more

Meet The Blogger: Charlotte

This Post is Tagged Under: Variant, COVID-19, virus, cryptocurrency traders, Omicron, mutated variants, Greek Alphabet, cryptocurrency, value, Bitcoin, Ethereum, cryptocurrencies, Coinmarket, Arbitrum Network, World Health Organization(WHO), Nu, Xi, Omicron Coin, investors, investment, “squid game” currency, dogecoin, memes, Sushiswap, Doge, Shiba Inu, Tykhe Block Ventures, scam,  Pi, Elon Musk


Read More: 

What Is This Cryptocurrency Token Inspired By Netflix’s Squid Game

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