We have all heard about Ethereum and what all use cases it has to offer the world through it’s incredible blockchain technology. However, Ethereum comes with several flaws, the main ones being the slow transaction speed and the inability to scale efficiently.
As Ethereum proved the need for a blockchain based smart contract platform, the search for a better platform began. Though many blockchains do support smart contracts deployment on their ecosystem, none offer the same quality of services like Ethereum.
The only platform that offered more than what Ethereum had to offer was Neo. Often referred to as the ‘Chinese Ethereum’, Neo offers more flexibility and better scalability than Ethereum. Neo is the very first open source blockchain based platform that was developed by the Chinese.
People who are new to the world of cryptocurrency might look at the price history of Neo and think that it is a new cryptocurrency. However, that is not the case as Neo was initially running under a different name. It was originally known as Antshares and was launched back in 2014. It was renamed to Neo in June 2017.
Neo shares several similarities with Ethereum. Just like the Ethereum miner fee is paid in the form of gas, one pays the mining fee on the Neo platform in the form of Neo Gas. You can deploy smart contracts and DApps on both Ethereum as well as the Neo blockchain.
While there are several similarities between the two, Neo does outdo Ethereum in several ways. Neo is extremely developer friendly. Unlike Ethereum, developers can write smart contracts using programming languages such as C, C#, Java and Go on the Neo blockchain. The transaction speed on the Neo network is as high as 10,000 TPS. Thus, making it the perfect candidate to replace Ethereum.
Also Read: Neo vs Ethereum: A Comparison of the Past, Present and Future
Neo is one of the few platforms that takes users consensus into account while implementing new upgrades to its systems. Onchain, the company behind Neo distributed 1 ONT (Ontology) token for every 5 Neo tokens a person held. This could be used to vote for any future upgrades made to the platform. Thus, the community plays a very important role in shaping the Neo platform.
Neo has become a very popular cryptocurrency in recent times.
Let us analyze the features that make it so special.
The Team Behind NEO
Neo was initially named as Antshares. Aimed at providing the perfect solution for e-commerce, this was the very first open source project coming from the republic of China. Neo was originally founded by Da Hongfei and Erik Zhang.
The team behind the entire project is not very large. However, they are highly efficient and good at what they do. The Neo project comprises of just four developers who constantly fix bugs and implement changes to the platform. Despite the relatively small workforce, we have seen such great improvements to the Neo platform, since its inscription. Other than the founders, the team includes:
-
Tony Tao
-
Johnson Zhao
-
Huang Shuxi
-
Peter Lin
-
Sharlyne
-
Ray
-
Fred Huang
-
Nathan Chen
-
Lights Li
-
Susu
-
Yan Mingxia
Getting Started with NEO
When cryptocurrencies were initially introduced in 2009, it was only used for P2P transactions or for trading. Ethereum showed the world the wide range of possibilities of the blockchain technology.
Once the whole world was hooked on the smart contract and DApp functionality provided by Ethereum, there were no stopping people from using this technology. As the demand on the network increased, the network was not able to handle the increased workload. This resulted in a higher gas fee as well as a slower transaction confirmation speed.
Neo offered the perfect solution to all of the above problems. Unlike Ethereum that uses the inefficient and slow Proof of Work consensus mechanism, Neo uses a new mechanism called the delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance (dBFT) mechanism to speed up the transaction confirmation to 10,000 TPS. This also costs the users very less fee. Thus, solving the scalability issue that has plagued the Ethereum blockchain.
Neo is a very popular cryptocurrency. Thus, you can find several wallets including the popular hardware wallets such as the Ledger Nano S and Trezor. It is also supported by several software wallets such as Exodus among others. However, the best software wallet for the Neo cryptocurrency is the official Neo wallet.
How Does NEO Work?
The Neo platform is comprised of two cryptocurrencies, Neo and Neo Gas. Neo is the main crypto asset of the platform and Neo Gas is the currency used to pay the transaction fee on the network.
Any user who holds Neo in his or her wallet can generate Neo Gas, based on the amount of Neo that he or she holds. Thus, you can claim the Neo Gas that you generated and either use it for trading or for paying the transaction fee on the Neo platform.
Unlike most cryptocurrencies that use the proof of work consensus to verify transactions, Neo uses the dBFT technique. This results in the transactions being processed quickly. The dBFT mechanism also stops any hard forks to occur on the Neo blockchain as it requires a clear two out of three support to be carried through.
Thus, Neo has a very well engineered platform with hardly any major flaws.
The Strengths of NEO
-
Scalability
In order to use cryptocurrencies on a daily basis, they need to be able to handle the high volume of usage. Looking back at the congestion in all the main blockchains during the month of January of 2018, it was clear that cryptocurrencies were not ready for mass adoption.
While Bitcoin handles just 6-7 transactions per second, Ethereum can handle just 10-20 transactions per second. Thus, as the number of transactions increases, the network gets clogged and you will need to pay a higher fee in order to get your transaction verified quicker. This problem is non-existent on the Neo blockchain as the Neo blockchain can handle 10,000 transactions every single second. Thus, Neo provides the much-needed solution to the current scalability problem.
-
Developer Friendly
Neo also supports the deployment of smart contracts and DApps on its platform. However, unlike Ethereum which requires users to code in the Solidity programming language, Neo supports many popular programming languages such as C# and Java. Hence, if you know any one of these supported programming languages, you can go ahead and begin developing smart contracts on the Neo platform.
-
Digital Assets and Identities
Neo aims at converting all traditional assets into digital entities by making use of smart contracts resulting in users having the access to these entities whenever they need them. Additionally, Neo is also used to hide the identities of people, organizations, etc. This can play a very important role in multi-factor authentications.
-
Community Development
In most cryptocurrencies, only the core developers make the decisions regarding the future upgrades on a particular blockchain platform. Neo blockchain, on the other hand, takes into account the choice of each and every Neo holder. Users get to vote on the future upgrades of the platform by using ONT tokens that are distributed amongst the Neo coin holders. This makes the Neo blockchain a very stable blockchain.
How to Buy and Store NEO?
Neo has grown to be a very popular cryptocurrency which is why you can buy it on all the major cryptocurrrency exchanges such as Bitfinex, Binance, Kucoin, CoinEx, etc. You can easily get your hands on some Neo as it is paired with other popular cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, DOGE, USDT.
While none of the mainstream exchanges allow you to buy Neo using fiat currency, some new exchanges such as Livecoin do allow you to buy Neo by using USD.
Neo is a cryptocurrency that is widely used. There is a high volume exchange of Neo taking place regularly on many exchanges. This is why it is ranked in top 20 in the market. It is due to the high popularity of this coin that there are several wallets that support this coin. However, the most secure place to store your Neo coins is on a hardware wallet such as the Ledger nano S or Trezor.
Also Read: Ledger Nano S vs Trezor vs KeepKey
You can also store Neo on the official GUI wallet provided by the project. You will earn Neo Gas every single day, based on the amount of Neo you store in these wallets. Neo Gas can also be bought and traded on the above exchanges as well.
Future of NEO Coin
Neo is a cryptocurrency that is backed by the company Onchain. When China imposed a ban on Bitcoin in 2017, Neo was the only traded cryptocurrency in that region. Additionally, this cryptocurrency is supported by the Chinese government. Thus, everyone can be assured that it will not vanish into oblivion.
The Neo network offers everything that the Ethereum network has to offer and on top of all this, it offers many extra features. Thus, making the entire platform better than Ethereum.
As Ethereum was launched before Neo came into existence, it has managed to gain a huge user-base. However, looking at the benefits offered by Neo and it’s rapidly growing user base, it is just a matter of time before people begin to shift to the better network.
As people will start using Neo more widely, the demand will increase, causing the prices of the coin to increase exponentially. You should buy yourself some Neo and hold it to generate Neo Gas as well. Thus, reaping twice the benefit.
How is NEO better than other Cryptocurrencies?
Smart contracts have become an inevitable part of cryptocurrencies as of today. Many platforms do support the deployment of smart contracts. However, as more smart contracts are being used, the number of transactions made on the network has also increased. None of the existing blockchains can handle such high volume of transactions and thus we see a delay in the confirmation of lag in the smart contracts.
NEO blockchain’s capability to confirm 10,000 transactions every second makes it immune to the high volume of transactions.
We also saw several hard forks that split the community in the year 2017. Two of the most notable hard forks in 2017 were the Bitcoin Cash and the Bitcoin Gold. These hard forks divided the community as well as the developers causing the network to be inefficient.
With Neo’s dBFT, there is no possibility of any hard fork of the NEO blockchain. Thus, resulting in a compact and well-designed blockchain network. Additionally, the implementation of updates happens after considering what the users of Neo feel about a particular update. Therefore, Neo does not ignore the community that backs the project either. All of these factors make it a unique blockchain platform.
Should You Invest in NEO?
Neo is a cryptocurrency with a very bright future. Having barely any flaws and a whole country backing it up, the price of Neo will definitely go back up once the bull run returns.
With new features being added to this platform, now would be the right time to invest in this project.
Frequently Asked Questions About NEO
-
How do I earn Gas from Neo token?
You can earn Gas by simply storing Neo coins on the official Neo wallet. You can claim these coins as soon as they are available.
-
Can I directly buy Gas coin without Neo?
Unlike Ethereum Gas, Neo and Gas are two separate entities. This means that you can buy just the Gas tokens on an exchange.
-
Will Neo dethrone Ethereum?
Neo is definitely more efficient than Ethereum right now. However, it is still a long way down from gaining the support in order to dethrone Ethereum.
-
Can I get Neo Gas if I keep my Neo on an Exchange?
This depends on the exchange itself. Binance is one exchange that does distribute Neo Gas generated to its users on a monthly basis. However, many exchanges do not follow this practice.
-
Does making Neo transactions cost any fee?
No, you can send Neo from your wallet with 0 fee. Exchanges do charge you a fee which is collected by them.
Conclusion
Neo is the most complete cryptocurrency out there today. You can hold the coin and gain more cryptocurrency in the form of Gas. Additionally, the platform provides the perfect ecosystem to deploy DApps and smart contracts as it can handle the high number of transaction that is usually seen in the real world. With many cryptocurrencies trying to replace Ethereum, Neo has out powered and is the only platform that is capable of replacing Ethereum today.