NEO

What NEO does

Neo (formerly AntShares) is a community-driven, non-profit blockchain project founded in 2014 and headquartered in Shanghai, China, with a global footprint spanning Switzerland, Japan, and North America. Its core product, the Neo N3 blockchain, is an open-source Layer 1 platform featuring dBFT 2.0 delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance consensus with single-block transaction finality, a multi-language Neo Virtual Machine supporting smart contracts in C#, Go, Python, TypeScript, and Java, and a full stack of native infrastructure including NeoFS (distributed storage), NeoID (self-sovereign identity), Neo Name Service (.neo domains), and built-in oracles. Neo X, launched on MainNet in July 2024, is the project's EVM-compatible sidechain offering Ethereum interoperability, Anti-MEV protection via ZK-based distributed key generation, and cross-chain connectivity through Message Bridge and Poly Network integrations.

The platform operates on a dual-token economic model: NEO serves as the governance token (holders elect the Neo Council and receive passive GAS distribution) and GAS functions as the utility token for network transaction fees, smart contract deployment, and execution. There is no direct enterprise licensing model — network usage is monetized through GAS consumption. The Foundation and Neo Global Development (NGD) collectively manage a consolidated treasury of $460.8 million (2025 Financial Report), grown from $5.2M since 2014, funded by on-chain revenue, GAS generation, NGC Fund liquidation, and a 2025 sale of 35,000 ETH. Go-to-market is community-led and event-driven, channeled through developer grants (EcoBoost, $20M Elevate), hackathons (Neo X Grind with $22M in prizes), ambassador programs (NeoPod), and partnerships with Microsoft, .NET Foundation, BSN, the University of Zurich, and OKX.

The company serves four primary customer segments: (1) blockchain developers building dApps across multiple programming languages; (2) blockchain projects and dApps leveraging Neo's infrastructure and ecosystem funding; (3) enterprises integrating blockchain for digital assets, supply chain, or identity verification; and (4) cryptocurrency exchanges and token holders participating in NEO/GAS trading and governance. The platform is currently navigating a high-profile public governance dispute between co-founders Da Hongfei and Erik Zhang over treasury control and consensus node voting power, and Da Hongfei has announced plans to step back from mainnet development effective January 1, 2026 to focus on Neo X and the SpoonOS agentic operating system sub-project.

Name

NEO

Legal name

Neo Smart Economy / Neo

Website

https://neo.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Neo is a community-driven, non-profit Layer 1 blockchain platform (founded 2014, Shanghai) operating Neo N3 and the EVM-compatible Neo X sidechain. It serves blockchain developers, dApp projects, enterprises, and token holders through a dual-token (NEO/GAS) model with native smart contracts, storage, identity, and oracle infrastructure.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Blockchain Infrastructure Platform

NAICS

Securities and Commodity Exchanges (523210), Securities and Commodity Exchanges (52321)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200), Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Banking & Neobank Platforms (BPAMAFAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Embedded/Platform Neobanks (Banking-as-a-Feature) (FSABAFAF)

Keywords

• Blockchain platform
• Smart contracts
• Decentralized storage
• Self-sovereign identity
• EVM sidechain

Headquarters

HQ city

Shanghai

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Network Transaction and Smart Contract Fees (GAS): The Neo blockchain generates revenue through GAS token fees charged for network usage including transaction fees, smart contract deployment fees, and execution fees. GAS is consumed during operations and is also distributed to NEO holders as passive income based on their holdings without requiring staking.
2. Treasury Management: The Neo Foundation and NGD maintain a consolidated treasury of $460.8 million (as of 2025 Financial Report) generated through on-chain revenue, GAS token generation (43.4 million tokens), NGC Fund liquidation ($40.2 million), and cryptocurrency sales (sale of 35,000 ETH in 2025 for $100 million). Treasury growth from $5.2M in 2014 to $460.8M represents 8,862% asset growth.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Neo is an open-source, community-driven blockchain platform offering a full-stack of native functionality for building decentralized applications. Its core offering is the Neo N3 blockchain (with Neo X as an EVM-compatible sidechain), which provides built-in smart contracts, oracles, decentralized storage (NeoFS), self-sovereign identity (NeoID), domain name service, and cross-chain interoperability, supported by a dual-token economic model (NEO and GAS).

Product overview

Neo is an open-source, community-driven blockchain platform formerly known as AntShares, offering a full-stack ecosystem built around its core Neo N3 blockchain. The platform provides a unique dual-token architecture with NEO for governance and GAS for utility/network fees. Neo N3 features native functionality including NeoFS (decentralized storage), NeoID (self-sovereign identity), Neo Name Service (domain resolution), Neo Oracle (off-chain data), and multi-language smart contract support (C#, Go, Python, Java, TypeScript). Neo X is the EVM-compatible sidechain extending the ecosystem with Ethereum compatibility. Supporting infrastructure includes Neo-CLI and Neo-GUI node clients, NEP-17/NEP-11 token standards, the NeoVM execution environment, and ecosystem support programs (EcoBoost, Elevate). The governance model includes the Neo Council elected by NEO token holders, with treasury managed by the Neo Foundation and NGD.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Neo X: Neo's EVM-based sidechain providing Ethereum compatibility
• Neo N3
• NeoFS
• NeoID
• Neo Name Service (NNS)
• NeoPod
• Elevate Program

Products and services

• Neo N3 Blockchain
• Neo X EVM Sidechain
• GAS Token
• NeoFS
• NeoID
• Neo Name Service (NeoNS)
• Neo Oracle
• Neo-CLI
• Neo-GUI
• SpoonOS
• NEP-17 Token Standard
• NEP-11 Token Standard
• NeoVM (NVM)
• Message Bridge

Quantifiable outcome

• Treasury growth of 8,862% from $5.2M (2014) to $460.8M (2025)
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• DiesiscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2022Neo partnered with Diesis to boost social economy blockchain use. Diesis is a network of blockchain communities supporting open-source infrastructure.
• Poly NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 August 2020Neo partnered with Poly Network to launch an interoperability protocol enabling cross-chain functionality. Poly Network is a heterogeneous blockchain interoperability protocol that enables assets to be transferred across different blockchains.
• Blockchain-based Services Network (BSN)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 July 2020Neo partnered with BSN to drive mainstream blockchain adoption. BSN is a large blockchain infrastructure operator providing standardized development environments.
• InterWork Alliance (IWA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 June 2020Neo initiated the InterWork Alliance as one of five sponsor members. IWA is a platform-neutral, standards organization for tokenized economy frameworks.
• University of ZurichcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 April 2020Neo established a long-term partnership with the University of Zurich to jointly promote blockchain technology in Europe. The partnership focuses on research and academic collaboration.
• .NET FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 September 2019Neo became the .NET Foundation's first-ever blockchain member, demonstrating commitment to C# development ecosystem and cross-platform development tools.
• MicrosoftcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMicrosoft has partnered with Neo on multiple initiatives including co-organizing developer competitions and hackathons, providing development environment and tools support.
• HashKey CloudcoreTechnology or IntegrationHashKey Cloud joined the Neo Council as a governance participant, contributing to network operations and ecosystem development.
• OKXcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerNeo partnered with OKX to launch an APAC-focused hackathon to recruit talent and foster Web3 growth in the Asia-Pacific region.
• SpoonOScoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpoonOS launched as a Layer 1 blockchain and agentic operating system within the Neo ecosystem. SpoonOS built the first Web3-native Skills Marketplace on Neo for AI agent development.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ethereum: Ethereum is the dominant smart-contract L1 platform and Neo's primary direct competitor. Both support decentralized applications and digital assets; Neo X was explicitly built to capture Ethereum-compatible workloads, confirming Ethereum as the reference competitor.
• Solana: Solana is a high-throughput L1 blockchain competing directly with Neo for dApp developers and capital. Both target performance-oriented smart contract workloads; Solana represents the throughput benchmark Neo N3's 3-second block time is positioning against.
• Avalanche: Avalanche is an EVM-compatible L1 with subnets and fast finality, directly comparable to Neo X. Both target Ethereum developers with EVM compatibility while offering differentiated consensus and interoperability features.
• Polygon: Polygon provides EVM-compatible scaling and sidechain infrastructure for Ethereum, comparable to Neo X's EVM sidechain approach. Both target Ethereum developer portability with lower fees and additional features.
• Cosmos: Cosmos is an interoperable L1 ecosystem using Tendermint consensus and IBC for cross-chain communication, directly comparable to Neo's dBFT consensus and Poly Network/Message Bridge interoperability. Both emphasize sovereignty and cross-chain functionality.
• Polkadot: Polkadot is a multi-chain L1 with parachains and cross-chain messaging, similar to Neo's interoperability focus via Poly Network and Message Bridge. Both target cross-chain asset and data transfer at the protocol level.
• Cardano: Cardano is a research-driven L1 with multi-language smart contract support (Plutus/Marlowe/Aiken), comparable to Neo's multi-language smart contracts (C#, Python, Go, TypeScript, Java). Both target developers seeking formal methods and language flexibility.
• Tezos: Tezos is an L1 emphasizing on-chain governance, formal verification, and self-amendment, comparable to Neo's Neo Council on-chain governance model. Both prioritize protocol evolution without hard forks.
• Tron: Tron is a high-throughput L1 with smart contracts and a dual-token model (TRX/energy), directly comparable to Neo's dual NEO/GAS architecture. Both focus on digital asset transfers and dApp throughput at scale.

Regional players

• Ontology: Ontology is a Chinese-origin L1 with self-sovereign identity and decentralized trust frameworks, closely comparable to Neo's NeoID and digital identity features. Both originated from Chinese blockchain ecosystems and target identity/credentials use cases.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/neo_blockchain
• GitHubgithub.com/neo-project
• Facebookfacebook.com/NeoBlockchainOfficial

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments9 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NEO