The NEO platform has two native tokens: NEO (NEO) and NeoGas (GAS). There are a total of 100 million NEO tokens and those who hold NEO have rights in managing the network. NEO tokens are indivisible and represent a stake in the NEO blockchain as if shares of a company’s stock (but it is not equity). GAS, on the other hand, acts as the fuel to power the NEO network. Operational costs and smart contract fees are all paid in GAS and distributed proportionally to NEO holders.
[coin-chart symbol=”GAS” theme=”dark”]
GAS Generation & Distribution
While all 100 million NEO tokens are created in its genesis block, GAS has an initial total amount of zero. Through a decay algorithm, 100 million GAS will be generated in around 22 years. At the outset, each block is to produce 8 GAS. There is an interval of around 20 seconds between the creation of each block, so at this rate, around 2 million blocks will be produced each year. 1 GAS per block will be reduced every year until the rate goes down to 1 GAS per block. This rate will be maintained for about 22 years until all the GAS is created. Once to the total amount of 100 million GAS is reached, new blocks will no longer produce more GAS.
With the creation of GAS per block generated, it is distributed proportionally to all NEO holders. The amount of GAS a NEO holder receives is based on the ratio of how much NEO he or she holds out of the total supply of 100 million NEO. GAS may be bought on exchanges, but people prefer to buy NEO since it will allow them to collect GAS anyway. NEO simply needs to sit in one’s NEO wallet to be able to claim GAS.