NEO VS Ethereum, Where Should Your Money Go in 2018?

The NEO VS Ethereum debate has been raging on for some time now, and it is unfortunate that nobody has deemed it fit to do justice to the argument. For one, there seems to be a shortage of information on NEO; hence, most debates often end up with an unintentional thesis of why Ethereum is better than NEO instead of an objective review of both cryptocurrencies. As a cryptocurrency trader or investor, you might want to diversify your portfolio by holding both Ethereum and Neo. However, if you want to buy only one asset, it is expedient that you know and understand the fundamental similarities and differences between both blockchains. Below are some major difference between Neo and Ethereum as it interests traders and investors. What is Ethereum? Ethereum is a decentralized open source software platform built on blockchain technology to help developers build and deploy applications with minimal chances of censorship, fraud, and third-party interference. Ethereum’s concerns itself with building a platform that facilitates the development of DApps (decentralized apps) for a “more globally accessible, more free, and more trustworthy Internet:”Ethereum currently “owns” the DApp market and the Ethereum foundation is working towards making it more efficient for developers to create their apps on its blockchain platform. What is Neo? Neo is a blockchain and cryptocurrency platform providing a means to automate the management of digital assets by using digital identities on a distributed network for the development of a smart economy. Neo concerns itself with a Smart Economy in which assets will be digitized, proof of ownership will be stored in the blockchain, and transactions will be facilitated with cryptocurrency. Neo’s market focus is still somewhat in the future and the Neo platform is setting up shop to be the go-to blockchain when the future arrives. Key differences between NEO and Ethereum From the foregoing, it is obvious that both Neo and Ethereum have some technical similarities. For instance, both of them are blockchain projects designed to facilitate smart contracts and Dapps. Both of them are open source, decentralized, and cryptocurrency-driven. However, below are 3 major fundamental differences between Neo and Ethereum. Backing The Neo platform is technically a state-sponsored project because it has the backing of the Chinese government. NEO in addition to the backing of the Chinese government also has the support of corporates such as Alibaba and WINGS among others.Ethereum however doesn’t have the backing of any government and the closest it has to traditional support is the Enterprise Ethereum Alliances (EEA). Hence, from the backings perspective, NEO has better chances of a long-term survival because it is more likely to survive the government crackdown on cryptocurrencies. Network efficiency The Neo blockchain is fueled by a “cryptocurrency” called NeoGASos GAS in short. The Ethereum Blockchain is fueled by a cryptocurrency called Ether and then, smaller units of Ether are called gas. In essence, there’s an extra layer of complexity for newbies to alternate between Ether and gas when making transactions. In addition, a trader will find it easier to buy Neo because GAS is available in whole numbers and not divisible whereas Ether’s gas can be divvied up as 2.3442 3.4392. Hence, Neo’s GAS is fundamentally simpler to buy, trade, and transact business. Developer ecosystem A blockchain is only as good as the developers its can attract; interestingly, blockchain technology is still in infancy, developers haven’t build much loyalty to any one blockchain, and they can always cross carpet to a different blockchain that makes it easier to reach their goals. Neo has a low entry barrier for developers because you can write and compile its smart contracts and Dapps in Java and C#. NEO is also working on a solution for developers that want to write DApps in Go and Python. In contrast, the Ethereum developer network is closed because you need to learn Solidity if you want to write and compile Dapps and smart contracts for Ethereum.