NEO, a top cryptocurrency “designed to build a scalable network of decentralized applications,” has recently seen its price jump over various factors, including token airdrops and the upcoming launch of a new decentralized exchange (DEX).

According to CryptoCompare data, NEO’s price has jumped 5.33% in the last 24-hour period, as the cryptocurrency is now trading at $16.21. In comparison, most top cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are up by about 1% to 3% in said period.

The cryptocurrency’s price is rising despite its network’s congestion, which has seen various users move to social media to try and find out what’s going on. Through a Reddit thread, a user revealed the network was congested because of an airdrop.

As CryptoGlobe covered, the Neo Name Service (NNS) decentralized application, launched by a China-based community of open-source developers, saw users register over 10,000 .neo domains in a month. In the process, it collected over 18,000 GAS, some which are now being distributed to holders of the service’s native token, called NEO Name Credits (NNC).

As the thread explains, NNS airdropped NNC tokens to every NEO holder, meaning every active wallet is now receiving a small amount of CGAS (pegged 1:1 to GAS) tokens the service collected, effectively clogging the network. If users are selling their CGAS airdrop to buy more NEO, it would also explain the price jump.

The service itself has revealed it’s still distributing dividends, and expects to finish doing so in “4-5” days. It has, however, revealed it’s slowing the distribution down to avoid network congestion.

The CGAS dividends distribution is still ongoing. Because to avoid the congestion on the Mainnet that happened yesterday, we've had to slow it down. According to our estimate, it may take 4-5 more days to finish all the CGAS distribution. — NNS (@NeoNameService) November 2, 2018

The cryptocurrency’s community has also been working on expanding its reach through a new project called AmazoNeo. According to the project’s website, it’s a “social-led blockchain community that emerged in order to develop and consolidate the NEO Smart Economy in Latin America.”

Moreover, through a blog post the team behind an upcoming decentralized exchange called Neon Exchange have revealed they plan on finishing the exchange’s systems by the fourth quarter of this year.

As CryptoGlobe covered NEO’s first-ever decentralized exchange, Switcheo Network, has been planning on becoming the first-ever ETH/NEO trading platform, offering trading pairs with both NEP-5 and ERC-20 tokens.