Number One Blockchain by 2020: NEO’s Founder Speaks Boldly

Last weekend, NEO held their DevCon conference in Seattle. The event was very informative to everyone who are interested in NEO: developers, dApp developers, enthusiasts and even skeptics. NEO’s future and current issues were discussed freely. Da Hongfei, the founder of NEO made the very bold prediction that NEO will be the number one blockchain in less than two years.

Hongfei was pleasantly surprised by the amount of people who were present at the event. He went on to the stage under thunderous applause and admitted that he did not expect such a large turnout. That is only natural since like most cryptocurrencies, NEO took heavy losses due to the prolonged bear market. The token’s price fell sharply after the all-time high at the beginning of 2018. NEO tokens were priced at $161 and fell to $9.

Hongfei spoke a bit about NEO’s background. He talked about the time it was known as AntShares when he and Erik Zhang founded the project. He also expressed his gratitude to the Chinese blockchain community and and explained how instrumental they were in building the project up.

Later, Hongfei went on to discuss the future of NEO and the upcoming NEO 3.0 upgrade. He took a brief pause when he mentioned that he plans for NEO to become the number one blockchain by 2020. It’s not the first time he makes bold statements like these. A little over a year ago, he promised TPS speeds of 100 000 without sharding. The promise was made for the same time frame of 2020.

Hongfei knows full well that 2020 is just a year away and this time he seems intent to keep his promise. He stated:

“It really depends on how people define 2020. Some look at the beginning, others look at the end. Time is ticking so how can we achieve what we promised? How can we become the number one blockchain? Are we supposed to become the biggest or the fastest? I believe that we need to become the most favorable platform because we provide the best performance, diversified ecosystem and solutions.”

Becoming the number one blockchain will be no easy feat

In order to become the number one blockchain, NEO must look towards enabling large-scale commercial applications. A few of the proposed new features of NEO 3.0 include native contracts which can be executed without the use of the NEO VM. That being said, there is no real guarantee when the upgrade will be available and if the proposed solutions will be featured.

Even though Hongfei has set the 2020 deadline, that doesn’t mean plans won’t change according to the economy. With the global worries about a recession, there’s no telling how much an event like this can delay plans. Hongfei is absolutely certain that this type of Smart economy will be the future, but there’s no way to say for certain when it will arrive.

Hogfei is also not worried about China’s overal negative stance on cryptocurrencies. He has stated multiple times that Chinese residents are very aware of the possibilities of emerging technologies. He stated:

“I honestly believe that most of China, including the government and regulators are very open to new ideas. These ideas however, must prove to be in the best interest of the country and its people.”

Whether or not NEO can become the number one blockchain in the world remains to be seen. Most experts tend to have very negative views on the so called “Chinese Ethereum”, but Hongfei might still hold surprises in the future and prove people wrong.

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