Everything You Need To Know About Neo (NEO)

Neo is a cryptocurrency and software platform that powers a number of digital currencies and smart contract applications, including the Neo and Gas coins. Formerly known as “Antshares,” it was the first blockchain platform established in China, including capabilities like as decentralized applications and smart contracts, as well as its own currency.

This article will tell you all you need to know about Neo, how it works, unique characteristics, and other critical aspects of the ecosystem.

What is Neo?

NEO is a non-profit community-based blockchain initiative that entered the market with the goal of providing an easy-to-use platform for Dapp developers. NEO is a blockchain and cryptocurrency that is open-source. It is a “distributed network for the smart economy,” according to the company’s whitepaper. NEO, for example, is a Greek word that means “new and young.” When you consider that many people perceive the platform to be a newer and younger version of Ethereum, the name is fitting.

History

It first appeared on the market in February 2014 as Antshares. Erik Zhang and Da Hongfei, two long-time blockchain fans, founded this company. During this period, the cryptocurrency itself was known as Antshares (ANS). With the creation of Onchain in 2014, the two engineers were able to broaden their idea.

NEO’s whitepaper was formally released in April 2016. The benefits and technical features of delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance were discussed in the article. This was the first Chinese-born consensus method at the time. As a result, it got a lot of attention in the region’s media.

The crypto was introduced to the market through an initial coin offering (ICO) in August 2016. The event was a huge success, with over $4.5 million in financing secured for the project. These money were used to help NEO expand its strategy throughout the region. Onchain and Microsoft formed a Technology Strategic Partnership in September of that year. The agreement paves the way for collaboration on a number of projects.

Antshares officially changed its name to NEO in June 2017. This year, the cryptocurrency acquired its first US-based backing. The currency was listed on Bittrex in particular. The following year, VALID, a digital identity platform, formed a strategic agreement with the company.

How it Works

The first thing we notice about the NEO blockchain is that it can support a wide range of digital assets and can also digitize assets. Users can digitise, purchase, sell, record, circulate, and exchange various types of assets using NEO’s blockchain technology solutions.

In addition, the platform supports ICOs, decentralized apps of all kinds, and the tokenization of real-world assets. On the NEO platform, there are two different sorts of tokens.

The NEO token is the blockchain’s native coin, whereas GAS is the NEO network’s utility token. GAS works in the same way as Ether does in the Ethereum network in this digital currency’s ecosystem. Additionally, you can convert your GAS to NEO coins instantly.

One of the platform’s most appealing features is that it gives developers access to a virtual machine that simplifies smart contract programming’s key components and operations. The platform does not require developers to learn a completely new programming language.

The Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance consensus technique is used by the NEO network (dBFT). The method operates by having nodes act as bookkeepers, which is quite similar to an accountant’s role.

The data is then posted on the blockchain after the digital accountant completes the block verifications. When two-thirds of the network nodes agree on a bookkeeper’s version of the blockchain, a consensus is reached.

The dBFT mechanism also has the advantage of being quick, with the ability to handle over 1000 transactions per second. There is also a planned improvement to 10,000 transactions per second in the near future, which is impressive.

What Makes it Unique

Neo, unlike some other digital currencies, is part of a bigger ecosystem that includes smart contracts, distributed apps, and other features. Decentralized storage, data security, and cross-chain interoperability are among the features of the Neo program. Using the NEP-5 standard, any cryptocurrency can be launched on the Neo network.

In some ways, Neo is similar to Ethereum, which, in addition to its own money, offers smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). However, unlike Ethereum, which uses the Ethereum currency to pay transaction fees, Neo uses a second coin, Gas, to do so.

Conclusion

Since its launch, Neo has undergone a few important changes, including its name. Neo was founded in 2014 as AntShares and changed its name in 2017. Version 2.0 of the platform was released at the same time as the 2017 rebrand. In 2021, Version 3.0, often known as N3, was released.

Given NEO’s unique position in Asian markets, it’s difficult to imagine this platform failing. The network is constantly being upgraded by its engineers. For the time being, NEO holds the top rank in the crypto market as one of the most popular dApp creation platforms.

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