NEO is a next generation smart economy platform (formerly Antshares) and China's first open source blockchain that was founded in 2014, is often known as the “Ethereum of China”. What is NEO? NEO uses a smart economy approach to implement its distributed network concept. Its main objective is to digitize assets using the decentralized network of blockchain technology and digital identity. Neo’s main aim is to be the distributed network for “smart economy”. As their website states: 'Digital Assets + Digital Identity + Smart Contract = Smart Economy.' Neo was developed by Shanghai-based blockchain R&D company “OnChain” and funded by two crowdsales: first crowdsale on October 2015 sold 17.5 million NEO tokens for $550,000 and the second crowdsale sold the remaining 22.5 million NEO tokens for $4.5 million. So why NEO? Asset digitization and identity on the NEO platform essentially creates a novel way for asset registration, issuance, and circulation. This means that tangible assets like real estate, company shares or even fiat money can be digitized and traded on the NEO network, thus giving rise to a whole new economy. Its digital identity system allows for integration between the platform and the real world economy. It has custom digital identity standards that enable the creation of electronic identity data for individuals, organizations and even entities. These electronic systems use multi-layered authentication models that include facial and voice recognition as well as fingerprints. All digital assets on the platform enjoy legal protection thanks to the use of digital certificates on its public blockchain. This, in turn, guarantees trust as the system offers an indelible and unalterable record of all entities’ holdings.
Users can employ unused hard disk capacity to mine Bitcoins without the need for expensive mining rigs and other specialized hardware. Traditional mining hardware is energy intensive, noisy, produces a lot of heat, and is becoming increasingly specialized, moving beyond the means of ordinary people. With BHD, mining is simple and accessible. POW-based mining is all about raw computing power and energy output, whereas BHD's POC-based mining is far more energy efficient and returns to Satoshi Nakamoto’s original ideal that mining would be decentralized and performed by ordinary people. POC (Proof of Capacity) scans are only performed once every few minutes. For the rest of the time the hard disk is on stand-by with negligible power usage, greatly reducing energy costs. Based on capacity proof, it will support super-large blocks in the future and will add functions such as zero-knowledge proof. Solid-state drives are expensive, POC has no requirement for fast data processing, only capacity, so POC naturally eliminates ASIC chips. Currently, the amount of energy expended globally in POW mining is greater than the total energy output of 159 countries. The development of digital currencies shouldn’t have to be built on the wasting of resources. With BHD, POW calculations can be completed with a minimum of computing and energy resources.