Neo

Neo is an open-source blockchain that the community has dubbed the Chinese Ethereum due to the similarities in their functionalities and smart contract capabilities. It was launched in 2014 as Antshares and then rebranded as Neo in 2017. NEO supports multiple programming languages, making it easier for developers to develop dApps on the network. It employs a unique consensus mechanism- Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance (dBFT)- that enables high performance and keeps the network highly secure.

The Neo network also has two native tokens- NEO and GAS. NEO is a representation of the holder’s stake in the network and gives the right to vote on governance decisions, while GAS is used to pay transaction fees.

The Neo network facilitates multiple programming languages for writing smart contracts, which makes it very easy for developers to build dApps on the platform.

NEO uses a unique consensus mechanism called “Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance” to validate transactions on its blockchain. The Neo network has two types of nodes- bookkeeping nodes and normal nodes. Bookkeeping nodes are elected by NEO holders and are responsible for adding blocks to the blockchain while normal nodes submit transactions to the network and can be operated without the need for a voting process.

NEO also has two native tokens- NEO and GAS. NEO represents a stake in the network and gives the holder the right to vote in governance decisions, while GAS is used to pay transaction fees.

Chinese developers, Da Hongfei and Erik Zhang, launched the project under the name Antshares in 2014, and later changed its name to Neo in 2017. NEO was funded first through a private sale of tokens and later through a crowdfunding campaign, where the team managed to raise $550,000. NEO’s development is overseen by the NEO council, a not-for-profit organization that watches over the growth and promotion of the project.

New Neo coins are created through bookkeeping or staking, where the user needs hold a certain amount of NEO in a special wallet called “bookkeeping node” and participating in the consensus process. When a bookkeeping node validates and confirms a block, they receive the block rewards associated with that particular block in the form of new NEO.

Another way of creating new NEO is by inflation, at an annual rate of 1-5%. The maximum supply of NEO is 100 million coins and about 65 million are currently in circulation.