China’s Ethereum: All About Antshares (Neo)
You may have heard a lot about Antshares (now rebranded as Neo) in the past few weeks, and there’s a pretty big reason for that! Antshares, or Neo, is not being called China’s Ethereum for nothing, the technology is just amazing and definitely has a bright future ahead if things keep going the way they are now.
Note: Even though Antshares rebranded to Neo, I will still be referring to it as “Antshares” for the remaining of this article. The rebrand is not 100% complete yet and some of the finer details/coin names/ticker are still unknown. Just note that Neo and Antshares are the same thing!
The Chinese Government and Antshares
Back in 2013, China made it very clear that it doesn’t consider Bitcoin a currency or legal tender, and that it shouldn’t be used to pay for real goods and services. They even went as far as banning banks and payment companies from using it. The government has never outright endorsed any crypto currency. However they have recognized that it is impossible to stamp out crypto use in China, so they are now encouraging development of domestic cryptos, such as Antshares.
What does this mean for Antshares? Well, if the Government supports it, more and more people will begin to use it which will drive the value up. For example, from june 12th - june 19th, we saw a 955.4% increase in the price per share. (From ~0.00050 BTC to ~0.005277 BTC).
Great, So What are Antshares Exactly?
According to their website, Antshares is a smart economic platform that integrates “digital assets”, “digital identity”, “smart contracts” into new smart contract systems, cross-chain protocols, anti-quantum cryptography, and other advanced technologies to attract a large number of enterprises and developers to build on and develop the platform. It is an intelligent economic platform. The first of it’s kind…
Antshares and Antcoins
Similar to how Ethereum works, Antshares (ANS) represents your ownership of the Blockchain. A total of 100,000,000 ANS will be created and distributed. THe total number can not be increased and the smallest unit of AntShares is 1, it can’t be divided to any smaller decimals. Note: On exchanges you will see that you can buy in smaller amounts than one, but once you transfer them to your wallet, the decimals will be lost.
AntCoins, ANC, represent the right to use the Blockchain. Like AntShares, a total of 100,000,000 ANC will ever be produced. AntCoins are generated with each new block that is found and represents the right to use the chain (Like what Ether is to Ethereum). AntCoin is the currency for AntShares. According to their whitepaper, it will take 22 years for all the AntCoins to be generated. In the first year (Block No. 0-No. 2,000,000), each block will generate 8 ANC; In the second year (Block No. 2,000,000-No. 4,000,000), each block will generate 7 ANC; the amount of ANC generated decreases by 1 each year until year 8 where each block generates only 1 ANC until a total of 100 million are created.
Storing Antshares
I see a lot of people asking where they should store their AntShares. Here’s what I would say. If you are day trading and trying to make profit by buying low and selling high, keep them stored in your Exchange’s wallet so you have easy access to them and you won’t have to pay fees for transferring them back and forth. However, if you are in it for the long run and are holding your AntShares, i recommend keeping them safe in the official downloadable wallet. Once you transfer your AntShares to a wallet you own (i.e. not one the Exchange owns) you will start to generate yourself some AntCoins with each now block that is found.
I’ve found a very helpful guide for using the wallet, which can be found here. It explains everything from how to create a new wallet to claiming your AntCoins, go give it a read since this article is now done!
Interested In Free Training?
Are you looking to get free training to help you start making money trading cryptocurrencies? Join other like minded individuals and take part in our FREE training program that gives you daily advice on trading cryptocurrencies!
Unlock The Ultimate Crypto Guide
Enter your email below to get instant access to The Ultimate Cryptocurrency Guide and learn the basics as well as more advanced Technical Analysis tactics we personally use everyday.
Oh, and it's free!
It sounds like the point of ANS is to mine ANC? You can buy ANC right now for 1/4th the price of a ANS. Why not just buy ANC without waiting 20 years to mine?
While that is true, there is a few reasons why you’d want actual Antshares. Currently, only one chinese exchange (19800) offers AntCoins which makes it a bit more difficult to obtain for the average joe (and some people are not comfortable with their ID verification). Secondly, your AntShares will keep generating AntCoins indefinitely whereas when you buy AntCoins, you only get what you purchased. Lastly, AntShares are good for people who want to make a big profit.
If you can, it would be a good idea to also buy some AntCoins to add to your portfolio, alongside AntShares. I’ll have a guide coming out soon showing how to buy ANC.
Thanks