NEO-The Cryptocurrency of 2018

Cryptocurrency market as a whole has been witnessing massive ups and downs for some time. While most of the coins are suffering due to the capricious nature of this market, some cryptocurrencies are holding their ground with considerable equanimity and showing stability in their prices. In such a market situation where the bull is running loose, more and more people are getting attracted to cryptocurrencies. They are looking to invest more in coins which are ranked under the top 10 on CoinMarketCap. In these circumstances, many traders and investors have their eyes set on NEO. Its ecosystem is currently expanding and it’s been predicted to reach a new peak if the bullish trend continues.

At the moment, NEO trades at $64.94 against the USD, representing a 24-hour change of -6.41% and a 7-day movement of +25.98%. With a market cap of $4.22bilion, the cryptocurrency is ranked 10th on Coinmarketcap. Though a slide could be on, the coin’s future outlook suggests the coin could move up the ladder in due course.

NEO formerly known as AntShares, is a second generation blockchain platform. This coin is popularly known as the “Chinese Ethereum” because of its similarity in technology with the blockchain network of Ethereum.Like Ethereum, NEO is a blockchain platform as well as a cryptocurrency that enables Smart Contracts along with the development of digital assets. It was first launched as AntShares in 2014 by Chinese developer Da Hongfei. NEO uses a unique delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance Consensus mechanism and as a result, it can carry out more than 10,000 transactions per second successfully. Another important aspect of NEO’s mechanism is that it can be staked to produce another cryptocurrency that helps to fuel the platform as well as to pay for the deployment of smart contracts and computation within the network.

Reasons Why the Market Trend is in Favour of NEO

It is nearly impossible to find out the definite reasons behind a coin’s price upsurge as well as the downfall in the cryptocurrency market as the entire mechanism is based on calculative speculation and market sentiment. However, if we could delve into multifarious aspects of a cryptocurrency, some factors can be considered influential in foreseeing a possible future. For NEO, such factors include:

Association with Onchain: Several investors are hopeful about NEO’s future because of its association with Onchain. Although many people mistake Onchain as a derivative of NEO, in reality, it is a completely different entity that helps business organizations across the globe implement blockchain technology into their individual operations. Onchain was developed in order to separate the digital currency from the blockchain development team. Onchain offers a sui generis blockchain solution known as DNA that helps in utilizing the benefits of blockchain technology. The growth of this cryptocurrency is commensurate to the same of Onchain as it offers extra traction along with more interest from clients and business enterprises.

The Presence of Various Assets: Most of the cryptocurrency platforms focus on trading their corresponding digital currencies only. For example, the blockchain platform of Ethereum only focuses on the trading of their default cryptocurrency Ether. NEO, on the other hand, incorporates a significant number of assets on its platform including its own cryptocurrency. This unique feature makes NEO a globally accepted digital system of smart economy. The variety of assets is likely to make a positive impact on NEO’s future.

NEO’s Flexible Development Environment:
NEO’s platforms support various programming languages which include Java, VN.Net, F#, Kotlin, C#, and Python. It also plans to add support for C, C++, Javascript, and Golang in future. This makes NEO a developer-friendly platform. NEO also provides developers with compilers and plug-ins for the languages it supports. These compilers can compile high-level languages into a set of instructions supported by NEO virtual machines hence, making the platform more accessible and flexible for all kinds of developers.

Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance Algorithm:
All blockchain platforms rely on consensus to prove the validity of each transaction. Some follow Proof-of-Work methods while others apply another method called ‘Proof-of-Stake’. The main difference between the two methods is that the latter requires less energy than the former and it’s more eco-friendly. But NEO uses a different consensus method which is called ‘Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance’ or dBFT. The major advantage of this method is that it prevents the system from splitting and doesn’t allow forks. Which means there’s no chance of NEO’s platform ever being dragged into a controversial and unstable fork.

Notable Transaction Speed:
Both crypto giants, Bitcoin and Ethereum have an extremely low transaction speed which is expensive too. But NEO can handle up to 10,000 transactions per second. The NEO platform was designed in such a way that it can handle mainstream apps and its better equipped for future.

Quantum Secure:
We say NEO is ready for the future of technology because it has a quantum computer proof feature that makes it secure from future of quantum computers. As technology advances, quantum computers are close to being operational and means that nearly all cryptocurrency will be vulnerable because a quantum computer is able to break the cryptography easily. Hence, many blockchain platforms are trying to become quantum resilient. But NEO already has quantum resistant cryptography.

Suitable Platform for ICOs:
NEO is constantly advancing as a suitable platform for ICOs by allowing projects to launch their tokens on its platform. Just as Ethereum has ERC-20, NEO’s platform has an equivalent token standard called NEP-5. Some projects are choosing NEO for its functionalities and ease and there are lot more ICOs to be up and running during 2018 due to the NEX ICO smart contract template.

Disclaimer: This article is intended only to provide information. It should not be taken as an investment advice, nor is it intended to induce any action on part of the readers. It is highly recommended that a thorough market research be conducted before making any investment.