NEO is an open source Blockchain platform and cryptocurrency, to build distributed networks and decentralized applications (dApp). It is also referred to as “Chinese Ethereum“, so that’s the same as Ethereum right? Nope! Team NEO differentiated it with Smart Economy.
Digital assets
Digital assets are virtual assets in the form of electronic data, you can compare it with your e-wallet money. But with Blockchain technology a conversion of assets can be decentralized, trustful, traceable, highly transparent and free of mediators. On the NEO Blockchain, you can register, trade and distribute multiple types of assets. Using digital identity it is possible to provide a connection between digital and physical assets.
So, basically, NEO has two types of digital assets, Global assets, and Contract assets. Global assets can be recorded in a system space and can be identified by all smart contracts and clients. Contract assets are recorded in the private storage of smart contracts and require a compatible client to recognize them. It simply means that there is no need to make an extra effort for Global assets, whereas if you would deal with contract assets, you have to do some configurations.
Digital Identity
Digital identity is the electronic information of individuals, organizations or other entities. It includes facial features, fingerprint, voice as well as other authentication methods.
Smart Contract
The smart contract is a piece of code that runs over Blockchain. When some pre-programmed condition is triggered, the smart contract will execute accordingly. Blockchain provides a decentralized and highly reliable system in which smart contracts are very useful. NEO has its independent smart contract system called NeoContract.
Here is an example of NeoContract.
- public class HelloWorld: SmartContract
- {
- public static void Main()
- {
- Storage.Put(Storage.CurrentContext, "Hello", "World");
- }
- }
What is GAS?
Apart from NEO, it has another asset called GAS (also referred as a GAS token), which is used as execution fees of SmartContract over NEO Blockchain.
How is it different from an Ethereum?
Ethereum vs NEO has always been a topic of discussion, both work with a similar concept of smart contracts and tokens but with NEO lead Smart Economy as we discussed.
From a development perspective, NEO is more efficient! It supports multiple languages, with NEO you can create a Smart Contract in C# / VB.Net / F#, Java/Kotlin as well as Python, whereas Ethereum has limitations for Solidity only. Basically, without changing a language it saves time and a lot of effort.
That sounds great!! Right? So let’s start with creating a smart contract in C# with NEO Blockchain.