Often dubbed the "Chinese Ethereum," the NEO Foundation is an open-source decentralized blockchain application platform. Founded in 2014, NEO was originally known as Antshares, before the name change to NEO in 2017. Founders Da HongFei and Erik Zhang designed NEO to be "an open network for the Smart Economy."

What is NEO?

NEO is a cryptocurrency and an open-sourced blockchain DApp (decentralized application) platform. As a blockchain platform, NEO creates a distributed network for a “smart economy" system that uses blockchain technology and digital identities to digitize assets. According to their website, there are 3 parts to their "smart economy."

Digital Assets + Digital Identity + Smart Contract = Smart Economy.

1. Digital AssetsA digital asset is anything that exists in a binary format and comes with the right to use. The right to use is a crucial part of digital assets, as it is not considered an asset without that right. NEO allows traditional assets like money or company shares to be converted into decentralized digital assets on NEO's peer-to-peer network.
2. Digital IdentitySecure digital identities are important to the digitization of assets. The Neo platform uses the most widely accepted digital certificate issuance model, the X.509.  They also accept the Web of Trust point-to-point certificate issuance model. Identity verification in NEO can be done with facial recognition, Fingerprints, voice, SMS, and other multi-factor methods.
3. Smart ContractsA smart contract is a contract where the agreement is written in code. Smart contracts digitally facilitate, verifies, and enforces the contract without the need for a third-party or regulator. Neo's smart contract system supports most of the common programming languages like Python, C++, and JavaScript so programmers do not have to learn a new programming language to use NEO.

NEO vs Ethereum

NEO and Ethereum appear to be almost the same at first glance. Both are open-source and Turing complete blockchain projects designed to host smart contracts, ICOs, and DApps in a decentralized manner. However, some key differences distinguish Neo from Ethereum.

Neo is backed by the Chinese government as it helps spread awareness for blockchain, Ethereum has no nations backing its project. Ethereum currently uses a proof-of-work mechanism, while NEO uses a delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerant (aka dBFT) consensus mechanism, a better version of the proof-of-stake mechanism.

The dBFT is considered to be faster and more energy-efficient when compared to the Ethereum mechanism.  NEO can handle 10,000 transactions per second, and for now, Ethereum can only process 15 transactions a second. The upcoming Ethereum 2.0 upgrade may change that.

info graphic for down below

Neo       eth

mined                 not minedChinese government support       no government support10,000 transactions/second         15 transactions a seconddBFT proof of stake         proof of workNeo is not divisible             eth is divisibleNeoGAS for fuel             Ether to FuelMostly supported in China         Global audiencewants a smart economy             wants to be supercomputer based on the blockchainquantum computer-proof.         not quantum computer-proof.

What is NEO and what is NEO's Gas

Neo has two tokens: NEO and GAS. NEO is essentially a token that gives its holders voting and decision making rights in the community. It is the representative of shares in the Neo market and cannot be divided.

Unlike many other cryptocurrencies, NEO is not mined. 100 million NEOs were issued at the beginning of the network. GAS is a cryptocurrency as well, but it is used to fuel for NEO tokens. With each Neo block getting generated, GAS will be distributed to all NEO holders.

8 GAS tokens are generated per block. The rate of production is reduced by 1 token for every 2 million blocks generated. Production will cease when GAS circulation will reach 100 million.

Both GAS and NEO has a max supply of 100,000,000. Users of NEO pay in GAS to run smart contracts. Fees are proportional to the computing resources consumed by the contract

What's Neo's Ontology

Ontology is a high-performance public blockchain and distributed collaboration platform. It was founded by the same people who created Neo in 2017. Ontology is the most popular DApp that was created on top of the Neo blockchain and it joined the DIF as the first China-based blockchain project.

How to buy NEO Cryptocurrency?

NEO can be purchased through an online cryptocurrency exchange. All reputable and reliable exchanges have the most up-to-date NEO cryptocurrency price. Depending on the exchange, NEO can be purchased with multiple payment methods ranging from Bitcoin to credit cards, wire transfers, and more.

Please make sure the exchange you choose is supported in your country of residence. Our trusted exchanges application can help you find the exchange best suited for your needs and you can also use the app to find the perfect NEO wallet for you. Please remember to never store cryptocurrency on an online exchange.

Cryptocurrencies worth billions have been stolen by hackers, it is critical to keep your funds safe. The best way to store crypto is in an offline hardware wallet. Software wallets are also a good free option. Make sure to implement 2-faction authentication for an extra layer of security.

The future for NEO

The NEO price today on Feb 13, 2020, is $15.00.Analysts have different opinions when it comes to NEO's future price. Many are positive about the Chinese government backed crypto project. Crypto prediction website Wallet Investor forecasted NEO to reach over $30 by the end of the year.

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