Blockchain technology will make a big impact on our society as a whole. How these changes will be introduced is still uncertain. Various projects in the cryptocurrency space are working toward a similar goal. One of those projects is called Antshares, soon to rebrand to NEO. According to many people, Antshares is China’s Ethereum, but can it live up to the expectations?

What Makes Antshares Even Worth Considering?

NEO, or AntShares as most people still know it as, is an open-source blockchain platform fully developed within China’s borders. The company has its own currency, which is found on most exchanges as ANS -the switch to NEO will happen later this year- and seems to be doing well. This upcoming rebrand from Antshares to NEO is part of a bigger move to put blockchain technology in China’s spotlight.

There is an underlying ecosystem powering the entire Antshares project. Everyone who holds the native currency itself can generate “gas” to be used on the platform. This is quite similar as to how Ethereum works, with the exception of users being unable to use anything but ETH as a way to pay for gas. Right now, the generation takes place under the ANS banner, which is the native token of this entire project. Users generate ANC -Antcoins- to pay for transaction gas.

While all of this sounds great, Antshares will need to announce some big projects if it wants to become China’s Ethereum. However, that may be more likely than not. The Antshares team is working together with Chinese certificate authorities to map real-world asset using the platform’s smart contract technology. Additionally, they have successfully patented cross-chain interoperability, which will be quite significant for the future. The Antshares team welcomed some new startup partners last month, with more names to be announced throughout the year.

Antshare’s contract system is internally known as Smart Contracts 2.0 There are some big differences between Antshares and Ethereum, including the programming language. Ethereum only works with Solidity, which is both exciting and a drawback at the same time. Antshares has taken the necessary steps to ensure compatibility with all existing coding languages. This means developers do not have to learn a new language for coding smart contracts, which should attract a larger group of users.

All of this information will only become really interesting once some of these projects are fully developed and available to the public. Combining gas, smart contracts, and potentially even DApps certainly draws similarities between Antshares and Ethereum. Whether or not this means the project can effectively become the Ethereum of China and dominate the market, remains to be seen. It will be interesting to see how this project “rivals” the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance.

There are factors working in favor of Antshares as well, though. Their parent company OnChain is a well-respected brand in China. The project has secured millions of dollars in funding, which should see it advance this technology for years to come. Antshares/NEO’s market cap sits at over $250 million right now. Only time will tell how this situation will evolve. Antshares seems to have every opportunity and reason to become China’s Ethereum over time. It would be closer to the Ethereum Classic of China since they want to keep their blockchain immutable.