In the Telegram group for the Omni Layer someone was wondering, why the supply and number of Omni tokens increases slightly every time a new Bitcoin block is mined. Omni is the first and native token of the protocol.

The initial creation and distribution of Omni was essentially a Kickstarter-style period to provide funding to pay developers to write the software, which implements the Omni Layer protocol. The distribution was very simple: during the funding period in August 2013, anyone who sent bitcoins to a special destination, was credited with Omni.

However, for every 10 Omni emitted during the funding period, 1 additional Omni was also created, which is going to be released slowly over the following years. These extra tokens are called “Dev Omni” or “Developer Omni” — not because they are different from other Omni, but because they are intended to be used to provide an incentive to work and enhance the Omni Layer protocol in the future as well, even when the initial funds are spent.

The custodian of these tokens is the Omni Foundation and they were used and distributed as bonus for active developers, to fund bounties or to create other incentives for contributors.

The emission rate of the Dev Omni is as follows:

One year after the initial funding period in August 2013, 50 % of the Dev Omni were emitted. 75 % by a year later, 87.5 % by a year later, and so on.

During the funding period, a total of 563,162 Omni were created and distributed immediately, and 56,316 Dev Omni were allocated for the future. The total supply of Omni is therefore 619,478 tokens.

On 24th December 2017, 53,484 Dev Omni were already issued, which is almost 95 % of all Dev Omni, and over the course of next year, about 1,396 more Dev Omni are going to be released.

The following table shows the generation of Dev Omni per year:

Generation and inflation of Omni due to the release of Dev Omni

Merry Christmas!