Here’s Why the NEO Coin Price Is Surging

NEO, commonly referred to as the “Chinese Ethereum,” has overtaken Cardano to become the sixth most valuable cryptocurrency in terms of market cap.

The NEO coin price has shot up nearly 17% on Monday, recouping much of the losses from the February crash. The average NEO to USD exchange rate is now marching toward our 2018 price target. We have reasons to believe that the NEO price could set a new all-time high very soon.

Here are two reasons why investors, notably in Asia, are buying NEO with both hands.

NEO holders are hoping they’ll be receiving free coins. NEO holders are, in fact, receiving some free coins.

Confused? Stay with me as I explain what’s going on here. But first, a quick heads up for those new to the NEO cryptocurrency.




NEO is a blockchain technology that adds a unique touch to Ethereum’s idea of “smart contracts.” NEO has improved upon Ethereum’s technology to give us the concept of “smart economy”—a decentralized ecosystem where human identities will be digitized and all human financial and business transactions may be conducted on a secure distributed platform.

That’s a mouthful. What exactly makes it different from Ethereum? Two things: scalability and multiple language support.

Scalability means it can process thousands of transactions compared to Ethereum’s numbered transactions. And multiple language support allows it to be more developer-friendly than Ethereum, which only supports one language—that is, “Solidity.”

Developer-friendliness is allowing NEO to reach a bigger market of developers, who are expected to increase NEO’s visibility against Ethereum. I’ve covered the subject of “NEO vs. Ethereum” in further detail before. However, this quick intro may give you an idea why NEO is turning heads.

Chart courtesy of TradingView.com

Below are the two key identifiable reasons why the NEO cryptocurrency price particularly went ballistic this week, as shown by the NEO coin price chart above.

1. Ontology (ONT) Airdrop

As I mentioned earlier, NEO coin holders are expected to be receiving free coins. So how can new investors pass up this tempting opportunity?

NEO’s team, NEO Council, will soon be “airdropping” Ontology (ONT) coins into NEO wallets. Airdropping is simply the free distribution of new coins to existing coin holders in a pre-specified ratio. In the case of the Ontology airdrop, NEO holders will be receiving 0.2 ONT for every NEO coin they hold.

In case you didn’t hear, Ontology is a NEO-based application vying to build a “decentralized trust ecosystem.”

In layman’s terms, what Ontology is looking to do is create a platform where monetary transactions involving trust could take place securely across various industries simultaneously. To achieve that, the project is aiming to create a decentralized network of digital identities to ensure that trust is never breached in these transactions.

The Ontology airdrop is expected to occur sometime on March 1, 2018. That’s this week! This partly explains why investors have begun hoarding NEO coin, sending the NEO coin price soaring.

2. Neon Exchange (NEX) ICO

The other reason why investors are seemingly demanding NEO coin is in anticipation to receive free NEX coins. Now, what the heck is NEX? It is an upcoming ICO based on NEO.

Neon Exchange, which will trade under the symbol “NEX,” is going to be raising money through an initial coin offering (ICO). Consider this to be the equivalent of an Ethereum ICO.

Neon Exchange is building a decentralized exchange for trading cryptocurrencies. Take note that virtually all of the major exchanges of today are centralized and remain at risk of data breaches and coin heists. Crypto investors have witnessed umpteen cases of exchange hacks where millions worth of coins have conveniently been stolen. This is why the concept of decentralized exchanges resonates with them.

Neon Exchange will begin operations with NEO and GAS. Eventually, the exchange will add other cryptos for trading, starting with Ethereum.

For reference, GAS is the reward token NEO investors receive for holding NEO coins. It’s loosely a form of dividend paid by NEO. GAS tokens likewise trade on exchanges.

Coming back, NEX is a highly anticipated NEO ICO and investors are lining up to buy NEX tokens that will go up for sale by April.

Now, rumors are making the rounds on social media that NEX may decide to airdrop some tokens to NEO holders, which partly explains why demand for NEO is on the rise. Although nothing of this sort has officially been confirmed, speculators are building up hope and hype.

Analyst Take

The reasons currently causing a spike in the NEO coin price are largely based on short-term speculation. However, we remain bullish on the NEO cryptocurrency for the long term for reasons laid out in greater detail in our NEO price forecast for 2018.

It’s worth noting that the majority of the trading volume in NEO coin is flowing in from the Asian exchanges. South Korea, Japan, and China jointly make up nearly two-thirds of the world’s cryptocurrency market. Since the Chinese Ethereum is beginning to gain massive traction in Asia, we can safely assume that NEO may manage to post further gains in the coming days. Our NEO price prediction for 2018 targets an NEO coin price of $200.00.