Software development group COZ, formerly known as City of Zion, has incorporated as a company in the state of Delaware, registered to operate in Colorado. The move has been long-planned as the organization seeks to formalize its operations.

COZ is responsible for the creation of some of the most widely used software in the Neo ecosystem, such as Neon Wallet, Neoscan, neo-python, and neon-js. The group was founded in 2017 as a grassroots community organization to advance the development of Neo, then known as Antshares.

The name change to COZ is in conjunction with the incorporation as the group aims to streamline its image.

“We began to formalize the global community around the time of the Antshares rebrand and looking back, the name decision was pretty obvious given that we were a bunch of nerds working in the Neo ecosystem.” COZ co-founder, Tyler Adams, told Neo News Today. “Fabio issued the original proposal and it gained traction pretty quickly. The community generated Matrix memes started to show up almost immediately and I’m happy to see them continuing to this day. ‘City of Zion’ is an important part of our heritage and I’m excited to retain to references to our scrappy hacker days in the new image.”

Incorporation is an important step for the group, as it allows COZ to have access to essential infrastructures such as bank accounts and other financial services required to hire employees. As the oldest Neo developer community, the group has traditionally operated under a model where it would distribute NEO tokens, provided by Neo, to contributors as rewards for working on open source projects.

As the Neo platform matures and moves towards Neo3, COZ recognized a need to formalize its operations and have dedicated individuals for certain projects or tasks.

Adams went on to say, “we’re lucky to have members based in the state of Colorado, which is very progressive in its blockchain laws, allowing us to take advantage of crypto-friendly regulations and move the new company forward. While we obviously believe in a future of decentralized finance, the rest of the world isn’t there yet. Giving our team the option to be paid in fiat, receive tax forms, etc, not only makes their lives easier, but it allows COZ to hire new talent that can greatly aid our efforts, but who would not otherwise be prepared to work full time for cryptocurrency rewards under normal circumstances.”

In the coming months, COZ plans to roll out its new brand identity across its website and social channels. It is also focusing on preparing its flagship projects such as Neon Wallet, Neoscan, and neo-python for Neo3, and aiding in the transition.

Adams concluded, “we’re proud to be a part of Neo’s history and excited to help bring it into its future. As always, we encourage developers to visit our GitHub to find tasks to work on and join our efforts.”