Gas (GAS) is the native utility token of the Neo blockchain (Neo N3), used alongside the NEO governance token in Neo's dual-token model.
GAS pays for transaction fees and smart-contract execution on Neo, and is also usable on Neo X, the EVM-compatible sidechain built by the Neo ecosystem. Rather than being purchased or mined, GAS is generated as a network-level reward distributed to NEO holders and voters. GAS trades near $1.19 with a market cap of approximately $78 million.
Unlike single-token networks, Neo separates governance from utility: NEO confers voting rights while GAS alone is spent on fees and network usage, letting each token specialize.
GAS's distribution mechanism differentiates it further: newly generated GAS is weighted toward NEO holders who actively vote for Neo Council candidates, rather than being split evenly or sold to the market. This ties GAS's value capture directly to participation in network governance rather than passive holding alone.
GAS is a utility token, not a governance token — governance rights belong exclusively to NEO.
Holders use GAS to pay transaction and smart-contract execution fees on Neo. GAS accrues automatically to NEO holders as a reward, with a larger share going to those who actively vote for Neo Council candidates; most Neo wallets include a one-click claim function, and no staking or lock-up is required to receive it.
Circulating supply is approximately 64,992,331 GAS, with no ICO-style total supply figure applicable.
GAS was never sold separately; it did not exist at Neo's 2016 token sale and instead accrues over time as a block reward tied to NEO ownership.
Neo itself (originally named AntShares) was founded in 2014 by Da Hongfei and Erik Zhang, with a whitepaper released around September 2015. Its 2016 token sale offered 50 million NEO (then AntShares) to early investors, raising approximately $4.65 million, while the remaining 50 million NEO were locked in a smart contract. The project rebranded from AntShares to Neo in 2017.
GAS operates on Neo N3, Neo's native blockchain, whose consensus nodes are operated by elected Neo Council members chosen through NEO holder voting.
The top 21 vote-getters are seated as Council members who make protocol-level decisions, and GAS is also usable on Neo X, an EVM-compatible sidechain launched by the Neo ecosystem.
Neo, the blockchain GAS is native to, was founded in 2014 by Da Hongfei and Erik Zhang, originally under the name AntShares.
Erik Zhang serves as technical co-founder and lead architect, while Da Hongfei has been the more public-facing co-founder driving strategic direction. Da Hongfei is reported to be stepping back from Neo mainnet work from January 1, 2026, to focus on the Neo X sidechain and a separate project called SpoonOS.
GAS is not issued by a company selling tokens; it is generated directly by the Neo protocol as a network reward.
The Neo Foundation sets strategic direction and distributes funding for the Neo project, working primarily through Neo Global Development (NGD), its core engineering and development arm, alongside sponsored communities and independent core developers.
Neo governs through a dual-token model in which NEO carries voting rights and GAS is distributed as a reward for participation.
GAS reward allocation is weighted to favor NEO holders who actively vote for Council candidates over those who simply hold, with an additional share paid to elected Council members who operate consensus nodes, incentivizing ongoing engagement in on-chain governance rather than one-time voting.
Recent development has centered on Neo X, Neo's EVM-compatible sidechain, rather than the core GAS protocol.
No audit of the core Neo N3 GAS protocol by a major named security firm is confirmed.
BlockSec published a security audit specifically covering Neo X, the EVM-compatible sidechain, rather than the native GAS contract itself. Issuance is structurally concentrated toward NEO holders who actively vote for Council candidates rather than distributed evenly across all holders.