Original - Odaily
Author - Hao Fangzhou
Neo, a public chain whose main network has been operating stably for 7 years; Da Hongfei, a founder who has experienced two bull and bear cycles of Web3. Recently, held in Hong KongHK Web3 Evolution Summit and Neo Asia Pacific Hackathon Hong Kong Finals, once again brought Neo and Da Hongfei to the forefront, who had not spoken publicly for a long time.
At the event, Da Hongfei announced an important innovation of Neo: Neo is creating a side chain that can resist miner extractable value (MEV) attacks and is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). It is said that the new side chain (yet to be named) will inherit Neo N3’s solid economic model and dBFT consensus mechanism. For details about the characteristics, original intention, and community participation methods of this side chain, please refer to Neo will launch EVM-compatible, MEV-resistant sidechains to improve DeFi friendliness》。
What kind of opportunity is it for this well-established public chain to innovate at this time? Compared with the more recent narratives such as L2 Stacks sharing Ethereums security, modularity, Move system, Polkadot Cosmos, etc., what factors does Neo consider in selecting technical solutions? What will the new sidechain bring to Neo? In terms of ecological construction, how to enhance its attractiveness to developers? What projects will “Uncle Da” invest in, what tokens will he hold, and what predictions does he have for the future of Web3?
With these curiosity in mind, Odaily had the honor to interview Da Hongfei and discuss the above issues one by one. The interview is organized as follows, enjoy~
Odaily：As an old project, Neo gives me the impression that the technical service framework is very complete, it has accumulated long-term security and brand trust, and it has a unique dual-currency mechanism in L1. In Uncle Da’s eyes, what are the core features and advantages of Neo?
Da Hongfei:Why do we need to build another one when there are already many public chains? This involves three characteristics that make Neo different from other chains:
1、 Differences in consensus mechanisms: Neo is the first public chain to adopt the BFT consensus mechanism. We have added delegation, which means you can vote, elect consensus nodes, and reach consensus among nodes, making it more secure and decentralized;
2、 NeoVM smart contract system: As the first non-Ethereum VM, it supports multiple high-level languages, such as C#, JavaScript, TypeScript, and Python, which can all be compiled into NeoVM opcodes, making it easier for developers to enter Web3;
3、 Dual Token Token Economic Model: Those who hold the governance currency NEO and vote (for 21 Neo Council director nodes) can receive GAS rewards to further use the network, encourage governance, and promote usage.
Odaily：From the perspective of investors, they all say invest in the new, not the old. In the new era, what are the competition points between the bottom layers (including the new generation L1 and L2)?
Da Hongfei:There are many points,Performance is definitely an important one, I personally value it very much,Because it directly determines the handling fee of a single transaction。
In addition, the side chain we launched this time has aImportant Features - Support for EVM, because developers are used to Solidity and related tools, and users are also used to Metamask and other Ethereum services. So whether there is a complete ecological upstream and downstream, and whether users have installed it and are accustomed to using it. Rollup is easy to accept, and thats why. Previously, Neo users used Neos independent wallet, which had certain barriers. Unless it was the first time for them to try Web3 and use Neo as soon as they started, they would have to switch habits.
Speaking of this side chain, there may be a testnet at the end of the year. Neo’s mainnet N3 is relatively stable(Odaily note: 2021 has been basically finalized), if you make a big patch and insist on compatibility, the details such as address format will be extremely complicated. So our basic assumption is that the Neo network will be like a cake, the base (N3) is solid and the characteristics are not easily changed; the cream (the transaction layer and the execution layer) work well and are eclectic.
The biggest feature of this side chain is its resistance to malicious MEV through envelope transactions.The data we have collected is that the MEV value of the Ethereum mainnet in 2022 is US$1 billion, of which US$400 million is clearly malicious. Hopefully our new sidechain can save the average user that $400 million. As far as I know, we are the only one that solves the problem of malicious MEV at the chain level, and this is also because Neo’s BFT consensus makes it better.
Odaily：Another public impression of Neo is that it is very technical and has long-term optimization of development experience and continuous attraction of developers. Are there any original/initial/featured application layer products that have stood out to Uncle Da over the years?
Da Hongfei:Recently I have been mainly busy with sidechains. This hackathon is led by the development community, and I am not a judge.
But looking back, the more interesting projects includeItem System, they build non-fungible items (NFIs) based on the ITEM system, which are physical assets cryptographically linked to a “digital twin” via secure NFC. NFI technology creates a secure bridge between the physical and digital worlds, enabling individuals to prove their ownership of physical items and authorize specific operations on or off the chain. Another Swiss team,GrantShares, a DAO tool for financial management, fills the foundation’s judgment capabilities and hands over some Grants to community DAO and contract management.
Odaily：After the hackathon, high-quality developers/participants may be faced with turning to the role of entrepreneurs. How does Neo continue to retain them? In Web3, where the underlying structure is changing drastically, do developers have loyalty, or are they just going to incentivize multi-chain deployment?
Da Hongfei:If you are an established team that is passionate about the Neo community, you can apply for Sponsor Community and receive Grants without financial return every quarter. Of course, the community will also evaluate project results. If it eventually becomes a commercial project, we will serve as a seed investor.
Speaking of multi-chain deployment. I think developers still have loyalty, especially when there are familiar tools and communities. Furthermore, once there are users using the product, or the token is listed on the exchange, the team will consider liquidity separation, etc., and it will not be so easy to migrate.
Odaily：Any experience advice for developers?
Da Hongfei:It is recommended to give Neo a try and see how the anti-MEV mechanism is implemented.Anti-MEV also brings a side effect - resistance to censorship.Because sealed transactions are encrypted before they are recorded into blocks, sorted, and executed, they cannot be rejected based on the transaction content. Agents can also send transactions. Both the transaction itself and the metadata are invisible.
At the engineering level, we have already achieved resistance to MEV.
Odaily：Back to Neo itself, what are the important improvements after N3 in 2021? whats next?
Da Hongfei:This time the side chain is a relatively large technology release.
More goals are stillTechnology exploration is also my personal interest: Including the combination of BFT and DAG to see how to solve the experience-level problems caused by easy forks; and also studying Mina to see zks paradigm improvement on Ethereum.
In general,There are still many innovations to try on L1.
Odaily：Going through cycles, what areas does Uncle Da like to invest in?
Da Hongfei:I don’t speculate in currencies, but I hold Bitcoin and Ethereum. To actually experience technological development. We do not have a dedicated profit-making investment department and only allocate funds to support projects within the ecosystem.
Odaily：What are your predictions for the trigger of “large-scale adoption in the future” that many people are talking about?
Da Hongfei:It is difficult to have an application that everyone adopts. On the contrary,It will be a long-term process that will bloom everywhere.Moreover, the so-called large-scale adoption may only scratch the surface of the application layer.
Odaily：In the long history of Neo, if you could go back to a certain moment in the past, what would you choose again?
Da Hongfei:earlierExplore the use of zk in crypto, not necessarily a Rollup. Its too late for this. ZK is relatively difficult to implement. For now, consensus, side chains, etc. will be promoted first. In the future, we will explore whether ZK can inspire the new structure of L1.
Finally, a supplementary sentence,The sidechain released this time will also inherit the free transaction features of Neo legacy.
