NEO indeed has 25 ICOs lined up for 2018 - many of them started or backed by prominent Chinese companies and VCs.
The ICO ban in China hasn’t deterred them from taking advantage of the blockchain and its many opportunities.
There is even talk that upcoming regulations would lift the ban. This is a reasonable expectation.
Regulations will promote a more stable and safe environment for everyone interested in cryptocurrency and minimise fraudulent behaviour and scams.
For a version of this article with sources and links included, please see original post here.
Many Chinese projects and ICOs never reach Western audiences, even though they perform very well in their respective Chinese market.
NEO is an exception.
Dubbed the ‘Chinese Ethereum’, it is one of the few platforms from China that the majority of people in cryptocurrency know of.
Thanks to NEOs visibility, NEO based tokens are therefore likely to have a global reach compared to other Chinese projects.
It is merely an opinion, but I think it’s a smart move to hedge on NEO and NEO based tokens. Not only because NEO enjoys a reputation for being the Chinese Ethereum, but because the NEO Council has made it explicit they have global development in mind. Which means it has the potential to outgrow China and its regulations.
If you’re looking for an accessible and easy to use place to buy NEO based tokens that are already out of ICO stage, your best choice is the People’s Exchange KuCoin.
KuCoin is the only exchange that I know of to list all tokens released on NEO to date.
Some of the NEO tokens are quite remarkable. Noteworthy NEO tokens trading on KuCoin are:
- DeepBrain (DBC)
DeepBrain is building a decentralised marketplace for computing power to reduce the costs and barriers of entry to the Artificial Intelligence industry. Using decentralised computing power, the project believes they can cut the costs by 70%. They are backed by the NEO Council, Da Hong Fei, Gobi Partners, GSR Ventures, CollinStar Capital and GBIC.
- Zeepin (ZPT)
Zeepin is an Intellectual Property, copyrights and patent securing project geared at offering a reliable and secure service to creative content producers using the blockchain. Zeepin is backed by the NEO Council and GBIC, which is a well connected and global incubator for blockchain projects.
- RedPulse (RPX)
Red Pulse is promoting research into Chinese markets in order to make them more accessible to outside investors. Red Pulse originates from the early days of NEO and was received with a lot of international support, although it’s been running under the radar since the ICO ban in China. Its supporters include the NEO Council and Onchain.
- TheKEY (TKY)
TheKey is similar to Civic in that it seeks to bring digital identity verification. TheKey concentrates on doing this for NEO and OnChain. TheKey have investments from OnChain, NEO, Roger Lim and China Unicom, one of the 3 leading telecom companies of China, amongst others.
Other NEO based tokens trading on KuCoin:
- AlphaCat (ACAT)
- Qlink (QLC)
Besides Ethereum, NEO is one of the few blockchains in the world that is a popular choice for launching applications (as in decentralised apps, known as DAPPs).
These applications command their own tokens on the NEO blockchain and their tokens are sold to the public in Initial Coin Offerings, known as ICOs.
This is an important distinction. There are a number of platforms that facilitate the release of ICOs, but do not host their products/DAPPs. Motivations to invest in such platforms are significantly different from investing in blockchains capable of hosting products.
If NEO based tokens interest you, opening an account on KuCoin takes 5 minutes and does not require KYC to start trading.
KuCoin is a Hong Kong based cryptocurrency exchange that operates from Chengdu, China.
It’s a good exchange in general. They are liquid, have an ethical track record and a history of taking care of their users very well, fostering strong customer loyalty. And a customer focused business strategy is a sure way to make any business pass the test of time.
Also, KuCoin’s profit sharing system is one of the best rewards programs currently in cryptocurrency. Holders of KCS, KuCoin’s native token, are entitled to trading fee discounts as well as a portion of the revenue that the exchange makes from fees (set at 50%).
Since I signed up, the exchange went from a trading volume of 20 million USD to 300 million USD in 4 weeks. This remarkable growth is a good sign to investors looking for profit sharing coins, because the amount of trading fees to be divided between KCS holders is growing.
You scan read more about KuCoin in my other answers, where I go into more detail regarding the above:
How do you invest in Cryptocurrency?
Which cryptocurrency should I invest in 2018? Why?
I’m thinking to include more answers on good, but unnoticed, Chinese projects on my Steemit. Is that something you are interested in?
Please let me know with your comments and upvotes!
Follow my accounts — Steemit / Quora / Medium / Twitter — to discover new projects and ideas.
NEXT: What is a promising upcoming ICO?
Have a nice day,
Nele
Disclaimer: This is not investment advice nor is it an official representation of the projects and their goals. It is merely my opinion, so please read official sources and contact the projects for fact verification. A discussion on the pros and cons of the NEO tokens are out of the scope of this answer.