What is NEO?

2017 was an amazing year for a lot of different cryptocurrencies. These innovative digital assets took center stage, and everyone was talking about Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the rest of the cryptocurrency market. Along with Bitcoin, which cemented its position as the largest digital currency in the world, other cryptocurrencies began to emerge and prove their position as well.

Among those cryptocurrencies, we find the Neo (NEO) currency, the Chinese digital currency whose market value was estimated during the past year 2017 in billions and was able to fit into the top 10 digital currencies. Recently, the platform added NEO to its list of cryptocurrencies, and below we provide a very useful guide to help you familiarize yourself with this new currency.

NEO originated during 2014 and was previously known as AntShares. Initially, the coin launched as a blockchain application platform and smart contract system known as NeoContract. NEO was founded by Chinese businessman Da Hongfei, president of Onchain Corporation. There are two currencies that are used in the NEO network: the first is the NeoGas coin (GAS), which is used to implement applications, and the second is the NEO coin, which is used for management purposes, such as voting on the platform. And just as with any company traded on the exchange, every unit NEO stands for one sound, which is why it cannot be divided.

The NEO coin is often referred to as "New Ethereum" or "Chinese Ethereum", because there are some things it has in common with the second largest digital currency in the world. For example, the two currencies can create smart contracts and can also serve as a platform for programming blockchain applications. However, there are many differences between the two currencies.

Neo vs. Ethereum: The Key Differences

Centralization versus decentralization: While neo is democratic, Onchain still controls the entire platform and can, for example, upgrade the entire network without requiring user consensus. On the flip side, Ethereum has grown to be completely decentralized.

For cryptocurrency: The code for the Ethereum blockchain platform is called Ether, however, it has become very well known that Ethereum is now synonymous with the same symbol. Ether is the only digital currency needed to use the Ethereum platform. In contrast, the NEO network has a NEO symbol as well as GAS, and each of these codes are used for a different purpose. Operation

Split process (fork): The split process (fork) in a blockchain occurs when an update is released and not enough network members agree to it, thus leading to the network splitting and creating a parallel network. Among the most famous hard forks operations in the history of cryptocurrencies were the ones that occurred in the Ethereum network and eventually led to the launch of Ethereum Classic. As for NEO, this cannot happen at all, because its encoding does not allow forks.

Bid: The NEO is generated with a maximum of 100,000,000 tokens being traded. On the flip side, Ethereum has the unlimited supply feature that miners on the network are responsible for.

What drives the price of NEO?

Just like with all financial assets, there are several factors that influence the price of the NEO. However, there are some factors that may have a greater impact than others. One of these factors is the price of Bitcoin, which often serves as a benchmark for the cryptocurrency industry, and can either trigger an upward or downward trend, depending on the direction in which the currency is moving.

Another factor that may affect NEO is actually the opposite of Bitcoin's price. At the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, the Chinese government began eliminating digital currencies, by imposing strict regulatory restrictions on the industry and even banning them in certain ways. However, when Da Hongfei created the neo, he put Chinese regulatory authorities in mind. In fact, Da Hongfei created neo in a way that complies with Chinese regulations, and it can also be modified with relative ease to match the new regulations, if implemented. This means that the NEO may head in the opposite direction of Bitcoin prices at times, if the reason behind the Bitcoin moves is the restrictions imposed in China.

Trade on NEO

Like many other digital currencies, the NEO jumped during 2017, to have its market value in the billions and to be among the top 10 digital currencies (by market value). NEO is the latest addition to the growing group of digital currencies, joining its peers such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and others as well. Placing buy and sell trades on NEO is very simple, just like making trades on other assets and it is done with a few clicks.