John deVadoss, the president at NGDS, an organization that supports the ongoing development of NEO, a leading blockchain-based platform for deploying decentralized applications (dApps), has said that “developers [are motivated to] build on the NEO platform because of the market-leading innovation that it offers.”
deVadoss, a former general manager at Microsoft and a .NET software architect, told CryptoGlobe that the delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerant (dBFT) algorithm, which is NEO’s network consensus protocol, is one of the best mechanisms for managing a blockchain network. He revealed that dBFT has now been adopted by Binance, the world’s leading cryptoasset exchange.
Other useful features the NEO network offers include “dual token abstraction” – as it has two different tokens (NEO/GAS) for incentivizing activity on its platform. Moreover, NEO also provides developers an opportunity to build smart contracts in a variety of programming languages including C#, Python, Java, and JavaScript.
When asked about what the main use cases for NEO are, deVadoss remarked:
NEO is an open network for the Smart Economy. We see blockchain as a new institutional technology (enabling and powering New Institutional Economics).
Smart Economy, NEO 3.0
He further noted that “we are at the beginning of this transition and with NEO 3.0 we are continuing to enhance the platform that is the foundation for the Smart Economy.” NEO 3.0, an extensive set of upgrades for the NEO network (including changes to its network management), is expected to go live next year, deVadoss confirmed. Smart Economy is a term used to refer to the main set of features NEO has – including digital identity, tokenized digital assets, and its blockchain-based smart contracts. Collectively, these features allow users to build robust applications on NEO, deVadoss explained.
In response to a question about why developers should build on NEO instead of other platforms, deVadoss said:
Developers build on the NEO platform because we have a distinctive vision for how blockchain platforms enable the Smart Economy (digital – tokenization, programmable, interoperable; decentralized – trust-free, transparent, inclusive; shared – shared ownership with fine granularity).
dBFT To Allow Absolute Finality, Unlike Proof-of-Work Or Proof-of-Stake
Commenting on why NEO’s consensus algorithm is better than others such as those being used by Ethereum, Tron, and EOS, deVadoss told us: “NEO uses the dBFT algorithm for consensus. dBFT allows for true (absolute) finality, unlike proof-of work (PoW) / proof-of-stake (PoS). Forking is a fatal flaw when using PoW/PoS … in what should be an immutable platform.”
Going on to compare the rise and growth of the internet to that of crypto and blockchain, deVadoss said:
If we want to compare and contrast platforms, I believe that we are circa 2006/2007 with respect to Cloud-based platforms. We are seeing incredible innovation – and we are seeing true believers and skeptics. We are seeing interest in public versus private versus consortium; and we are seeing interest in both consumer and enterprise sectors. I believe that the innovation that we will see in the blockchain platforms over the next 5-7 years will surpass what we saw with the Cloud computing platforms in the last decade.
Research Focused On Intersection Of Technology, Economics, & Society
Explaining how his experience at Microsoft and time studying at the University of Massachusetts has helped in what he’s currently doing, deVadoss noted:
I did my MS and PhD work in Machine Learning at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. My research was focused on the intersection of technology, economics and society – and I see the parallels with respect to Hongfei Da’s (NEO co-founder) vision for the Smart Economy and New Institutional technology.
He added:
I wrote a book on what I learned during my time at Microsoft – it is published at: https://www.amazon.com/adventures-manager-John-deVadoss-ebook/dp/B0050BQEU4. If I could summarize – technology has the power to change society for the better, to empower us as individual human beings, and to be a force for good in reimagining our social and economic institutions.
