What happened
Today's been a relatively muted day in the crypto world. However, certain tokens are seeing outsize moves. One such token that's worth taking a look at today is Neo (NEO 5.73%). As of 2:40 p.m. ET, this token surged 11.3% higher to move into 59th place in the cryptocurrency market cap rankings.
Among the key drivers taking this token on a wild ride higher today was news of Neo's first-ever monthly tech report. This report highlighted progress made on several roadmap items the Neo developer team has been working on for some time. These included a range of bug fixes, as well as new resources and support for developers utilizing Neo to incorporate smart contracts into decentralized applications.
Image source: Getty Images.
Additionally, published "gas burn" data directly from the Neo team shows signifiant recent spikes, specifically one at 3 a.m. ET. On the Neo network, Neo tokens are the governance tokens tied to the voting rights for this network, while Gas tokens are the "fuel" that allow for transactions to take place on the network. System fees are burned, with network fees redistributed to census nodes. Higher gas burn rates suggest that transaction volumes spiked over a given period of time.
So what
Neo is a China-based blockchain, often regarded as the first ever from China, launched in 2014. Accordingly, it's not surprising to see large spikes in what are after-hours trading periods in North America, given this time difference. However, the recent gas burn data provided by Neo does suggest that activity could be picking up on the network. Given the geopolitical concerns coming out of China, this is a bullish factor investors seem to like today.
Additionally, the technical update provided by the Neo team has provided some significant detail on what's going on behind the scenes. Those with sophisticated knowledge of the inner workings of this network appear to like what they see. Like any investment, more transparency is usually a good thing. This appears to be the case with Neo today.
Now what
Neo is certainly an interesting blockchain network to take a look at. For those bullish on continued global growth in the crypto space, this may be a token to put on the watch list. Indeed, Neo's rise of more than 11% at a time when the overall crypto market was up less than 1% signals investors believe there's some real near-term upside potential with this token.
Like all cryptocurrencies, investors ought to take caution and do their due diligence before diving into any token. That said, Neo is one project I intend to look deeper into, following today's news.
