NEO, a blockchain platform that enables development of crypto assets and smart contracts; was originally launched as AntShares based out of China back in 2014 NEO tokens can be staked to produce GAS tokens which are used as the fuel of the platform, to pay for computation or deployment of smart contracts within the NEO network. NEO platform makes use of a dBFT (Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance) consensus mechanism and it can be scaled-up in order to support a maximum of 10,000 transactions per second. NEO was also launched as a cryptocurrency in the market. Initially 100 million units we created and distributed by Genesis block and a number of distribution mechanisms and channels as specified in their White paper.
Being a smart contract ecosystem that allows for storage and also exchange of digital assets, it virtually looks almost like the Ethereum. But it differentiates itself from Ethereum with these two unique features;
- Ethereum can only be programmed in Solidity programming language, NEO is highly compatible with an array of programming languages
- Ethereum uses a BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance) consensus algorithm; NEO makes uses dBFT (Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance).
NEO- Smart Economy
As stated in their official website, NEO blockchain is set to revolutionize and bring about a smart economy. A smart economy would comprise of Digital identity, Digital assets and Smart contracts.
Digital Identity
This includes the identity of individuals, organisations and other dependent entities in the said platform. This is based Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) X.509 standard which is implemented in the NEO platform. Also supports the Web Of Trust point to point certificate.
Digital Assets
Programmable assets that exist in its electronic data form; that decentralized, traceable, transparent, and trustful. Contains NEO and GAS tokens On the NEO platform users can register and trade many types of digital assets. The assets that are registered with a valid digital identity;
Smart contracts
Smart contracts on the NEO platform provide seamless integration with the developer ecosystem. Smart contract can be created in Java, C++ or other mainstream languages. NEO Universal lightweight Virtual machine brings in attributes of higher security and concurrency
NEO Platform- Highlights
- Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance (DBFT) algorithm – This is a consensus mechanism
- NEOX – This system will create the ability to execute and operate across various Blockchain
- NEO Contract – just another mechanism to create smart contracts and a high performance environment that can be integrated with pre-existing codebases
- NEOFS –A service that allows for decentralized storage more like a peer to peer Dropbox
- NEOQ – It is a lattice oriented cryptographic mechanism that creates problems that cannot be solved by quantum computers and ensuring being quantum-proof
