Neo 2022 Lookback: Navigating the Bear Market and Building a Strong Foundation for the Future of Web3
As we move into 2023 with much to look forward to in the world of Neo, we’d like to reflect briefly on the year of 2022.
First, with the collapse of Luna, 3 Arrow Capital, and FTX in the recent rearview mirror, we want to comment on the bear market that affected all in the blockchain industry in 2022. While these issues have made for a challenging industry environment, and their impacts are ongoing, Neo continues to stand as a steadfast and long-term blockchain player. We believe in the importance of building and investing for the long term. We remain confident that the market will eventually turn in our favor.
At Neo, our actions in 2022 demonstrated our belief in the staying power of our long-term vision: Providing the best and most feature-complete decentralized blockchain technology in the industry, making it easy for developers and businesses to build out their projects and businesses here. Despite the challenging market conditions that played a prominent role in the blockchain industry throughout much of the year, we prioritized initiatives to further advance this steadfast commitment.
For example, in early 2022, we invested in seeding the next wave of new projects on Neo N3 with Polaris Launchpad, Neo’s second virtual global hackathon. Twenty teams won recognition in the competition across a range of specialized tracks that represent areas that we are focused on growing in the Neo ecosystem. Leaders of the winning projects had the opportunity to participate in the Draper University incubation program (supported by Neo and Draper University) and continue to receive business incubation support through Neo Global Development.
As another example, on the heels of the hackathon, Neo staked out a strong presence at Consensus in Austin, Texas in June. With our presence at the year’s biggest blockchain industry gathering, we felt that it was important to showcase the innovative technology and increased decentralization that Neo N3 introduced in 2021. We were successful: Visitors formed non-stop lines at the Neo booth to participate in an interactive experience that spanned the blockchain and the physical world. Visitors got to see for themselves that with Neo N3, Neo, the industry’s most developer-friendly blockchain, is new again. Our presence at the event also allowed us to engage with industry thought leaders and businesses to discuss everything from Neo’s ability to serve as the bridge for traditional Web2 developers entering the world of Web3, to our vision for the future of blockchain.
Supporting our drive to nurture community talent from another angle, in September we rolled out the NeoPod Initiative. NeoPod is designed to empower the dedicated and knowledgeable members of the Neo community to help expand the reach of the Neo blockchain — powering a new innovation engine that will provide more comprehensive talent support for projects in the ecosystem.
Recognising that the future of Web3 will be shaped by the next generation of bright minds, in October we orchestrated the Decoding Web3 Neo Campus Tour. All month, leaders from Neo and our sponsored communities traveled the US as part of the tour. We made stops at the most exclusive universities from the East Coast to the West Coast. Along the way, we met with hundreds of students, faculty, and industry leaders associated with 16 top universities. We designed this opportunity both to introduce the change makers of the future to Web3, and to listen to and learn from them. In 2023, we look forward to continuing to educate and mentor young talent in the industry based on the connections we built through many insightful engagements throughout the tour.
Neo also continued to prioritize decentralization last year. As a key example, we launched GrantShares, a decentralized and transparent grants program for the Neo ecosystem. GrantShares extends the grants programs offered by Neo EcoSupport in a flexible DAO format. Proposal discussions take place in public, and voting happens on-chain by well-known participants. Anyone can view and track all distributed grants. By the close of 2022, this successful new program had already provided grants to nine projects to the tune of more than US $145,000, and more than a dozen other proposals were being discussed by the community.
Fueled by such initiatives, and anchored on the ongoing innovation of the dedicated projects and sponsored communities at the heart of Neo, our ecosystem continued to grow in 2022. We developed a more complete ecosystem map covering infrastructure, decentralized finance, gaming, Web3, and related metaverses. In terms of infrastructure, NeoBurger provides steady node services with stable earnings, and Neo entered the world of decentralized identity with NeoNS. NFT issuance and trading markets are thriving, and related financial services are also actively exploring and innovating.
In addition to these highlights, Neo took part in dozens of events. We held community competitions and AMAs. We welcomed innovative new projects into our ecosystem via the EcoBoost program. We continued industry engagement through initiatives such as the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC). We saw many new dApps deployed to the N3 MainNet — surpassing the number of contracts deployed to Neo Legacy.
Looking ahead now in 2023, we believe that our growth and accomplishments to date are just the beginning. Many of the seeds that we planted over the previous 12 months have just begun to grow and mature. This year, we will further our momentum as we continue to create new pathways for people to engage, build, and work on Neo.
All at Neo extend our warmest wishes for a happy and successful new year to each of you in our valued community. We are grateful for your support. We look forward to working together as we continue to build a bright future for the Neo ecosystem this year and in the years to come.
