Neo (NEO) is the native governance token of Neo, an independent Layer-1 blockchain founded in 2014 as Antshares and rebranded to Neo in 2017.
The network runs on its current version, Neo N3, and pairs NEO with a separate utility token, GAS, used to pay network fees. Neo's MainNet went live in October 2016.
Neo differentiates itself through a dual-token model that pays passive rewards to NEO holders without staking or lock-up.
Every block mints 5 GAS, with a baseline of roughly 10% distributed proportionally to all NEO holders simply for holding, and the larger remainder going to holders who vote for Council candidates. This ties token ownership directly to network governance participation and yield, a structure less common among comparable Layer-1 governance tokens.
NEO functions purely as a governance token: each unit equals one vote, and holders use it to elect members of the Neo Council.
Holding NEO also entitles a holder to a share of GAS emitted each block, with no staking, lock-up, or delegation action required to receive the baseline reward; voting for Council candidates increases a holder's share of the remaining GAS distribution. NEO is indivisible.
NEO has a fixed maximum supply of 100,000,000 tokens, minted entirely at genesis in 2016 with no further minting possible.
Supply is fixed and non-inflationary. GAS, Neo's separate utility token, is generated at 5 per block and distributed to NEO holders, but this does not affect NEO's own supply.
Neo launched its ICO under the original name Antshares, closing on September 7, 2016, after raising 6,120.08 BTC (roughly $4 million at the time) from 1,493 participants.
The ICO minted the project's entire token supply in a single event, with no NEO issued since. The project was founded in 2014, with source code open-sourced in July 2015 and MainNet launching in October 2016 — two years after founding. It was rebranded from Antshares to Neo in 2017.
NEO runs on Neo N3, its own independent Layer-1 blockchain rather than as a token on Ethereum, Solana, or another chain.
Consensus is produced by an elected Neo Council of 21 member nodes, with the top 7 vote-getters serving as active block-producing consensus nodes. Council membership and voting epochs turn over every 21 blocks.
Neo was co-founded in 2014 by Da Hongfei and Erik Zhang, who both served as co-chairmen of the Neo Foundation.
Former Microsoft executive John deVadoss historically led Neo Global Development's Seattle office, though that entity has since been dissolved and is not part of the current team structure. As of 2026, Da Hongfei and Erik Zhang are engaged in a public dispute over Foundation governance and treasury control.
The Neo Foundation is the primary organization stewarding Neo's development, historically supported by two affiliated arms: Neo Global Development (NGD) and Neo Global Capital (NGC).
The Foundation and NGD together held combined assets of $461 million as of year-end 2025, split 49% Foundation and 51% NGD. The Foundation's legal domicile and structure are under active proposed restructuring as of 2026, including a suggestion to redomicile to the Cayman Islands.
Neo governs through a dual-token, on-chain voting model in which each NEO token carries one vote used to elect a 21-member Neo Council.
The top 7 elected members serve as consensus nodes; voting and reward epochs occur every 21 blocks. GAS emission rewards both passive holding and active voting. As of 2026, an unresolved public dispute between co-founders Da Hongfei and Erik Zhang over Foundation treasury control and legal structure remains outstanding, with no on-chain vote yet held to resolve it.
Neo's MainNet was upgraded to Neo-CLI/N3 version 3.10.0 on June 26, 2026, refactoring NeoVM and optimizing opcode pricing.
The next major change is the "Gorgon" hard fork, designed by Neo SPCC, introducing dynamic opcode-based fee pricing intended to make standard transactions roughly 100 times cheaper while raising costs for abusive transactions. It was targeted to activate on TestNet around July 24, 2026 and MainNet around August 1, 2026. A separate Council vote on execution-fee reduction was deferred pending Gorgon's rollout.
BlockSec has audited Neo X, Neo's separate EVM-compatible sidechain; this does not cover the main Neo N3 chain that NEO and GAS run on.
Structural risk includes founder-level custody concentration: the Neo Foundation and NGD together held roughly 41% of total NEO supply as treasury per their 2025 report, and co-founder Erik Zhang has been reported to personally hold a large NEO/GAS position in a largely single-signature wallet.