The cryptocurrency market is off to an interesting start in 2018 and investors must now conduct diligent fundamental and technical analysis before they buy any cryptocurrency or altcoin. 2017 was a massively bullish year for cryptocurrencies and anybody with a basic idea of how to buy cryptocurrencies made “free” money from the hype. Bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum, Litecoin, and many other altcoins were simply in an unstoppable rally and ‘buying’ was the only action needed for profits.

However, in 2018, the regulatory environment around cryptocurrencies is changing, institutional investors are entering the market, and speculators are exiting the market. Now cryptocurrency trading is starting to show an uncanny resemblance to stock trading on Wall Street. This piece examines the fundamentals of an interesting blockchain solution for value-driven investors.

What is NEO

NEO is a blockchain solution that facilitates the digitization of assets for them to be transparent, traceable, trustful, and free of intermediaries. NEO is similar to Ethereum in that it is a platform where third-parties can build decentralized apps (DApps). The NEO cryptocurrency is a kind of GAS payment tied to the platform to facilitate transactions on the blockchain.

Here are 3 simple reasons NEO is here to stay

1. Returns from funding ICOs

The first reason to be optimistic about the prospects of NEO is that it is more than just another cryptocurrency. NEO creates a platform for blockchain projects to fund their development by creating token sales on the NEO platform. NEO investors get to profit from price gains in NEO and they get a first-mover advantage that can translate into bigger gains when you invest in Dapps built on NEO.

NEO still has a small number of Dapps in relation to Ethereum but the quality of its Dapps, the speed of their adoption in the mass market, and the close integration with NEO suggests that Ethereum’s days of market leadership are numbered. Some of the popular Dapps on NEO include NEX, Moonlight, Red Pulse, Qlink, Zeepin, and imusify among others.

2. NEO is not subject to speculation-fueled volatility

The second reason to be optimistic about the prospects of NEO is that it has a low ranking on cryptocurrency exchanges relative to Ethereum. Many skeptics and detractors don’t take time to understand NEO’s unique value proposition before they dismiss it as another Ethereum wannabe. However, the fact that NEO is often ignored on exchanges means that speculators are not buying the cryptocurrency in the hopes of a quick gain.

For ordinary cryptocurrencies, the lack of speculatory interest might be bad news because the coin probably won’t have the volumes it needs for a price rally. NEO however is a blockchain solving an economic need – price gains on its cryptocurrency are nice bonus. Fortunately, the fact NEO has low speculator appeal suggests that most of its investors are confident in its viability, stability, and long-term growth.

3. Multiple ways to profit with staking

The third reason NEO is here to stay is that it has the potential to reward investors in many ways beyond ordinary price gains. NEO provides a solution for businesses to leverage blockchain for registering, trading, and circulating multiple types of assets. NEO then uses blockchain technology to auto-verify transactions. Fortunately, NEO investors can stake some of their assets for the blockchain consensus in verifying in transactions. The investors in turn earn a dividend from the work encoded in the transaction. The best part of staking on the NEO platform is that you don’t need to invest in any special software or hardware. Keeping NEO coins in your wallet is good enough staking and you can expect to earn rewards as the network continues to grow.