Gas gas

GAS is the utility and fee token of the Neo blockchain, one half of Neo’s dual-token model. NEO represents governance rights, while GAS is used to pay for network resource consumption and applications. Neo’s official site describes the split as separating governance from use of the network and providing a way to acquire tokens needed for fees.

On Neo N3, GAS is the fuel for resource control: users pay it for transfers, asset registration/publication, smart-contract execution, and dApps. System fees are burned; network fees are redistributed to consensus nodes, linking token use to network economics.

GAS is divisible to 1e-8 GAS, called one Datoshi. Unlike NEO, which has a 100 million maximum supply and indivisible units, N3 GAS has no supply limit. GAS can be obtained by claiming rewards associated with NEO holdings/governance or by purchasing it on markets.

A public smart-contract network needs a scarce, metered price for computation, storage, and transaction processing. Without a fee asset, malicious or accidental workloads could consume node resources at no cost, enabling spam and making resource allocation difficult. GAS provides the payment mechanism and lets Neo charge for operations and storage.

Neo also separates governance from spending. Users can hold NEO for voting and network participation without spending their governance stake on routine transactions, while GAS handles operational costs. The design introduces ongoing issuance and fee flows that must be balanced against demand: system fees are burned, while network fees and block rewards support network participants.

Neo N3 uses a dual-token economy. NEO holders vote for candidates; the elected committee governs parameters and the top committee members serve as consensus nodes. GAS is the payment-side token, so application users acquire and spend GAS rather than using indivisible NEO for fees.

Transactions and smart-contract calls consume network resources and are charged in GAS. Neo distinguishes system fees, which are burned, from network fees, which are redistributed to consensus nodes. This both prices resource use and creates incentives for block production and service.

Initial N3 issuance is 5 GAS per block. The official governance documentation describes the initial allocation as 10% to all NEO holders, 10% to committee/consensus-node incentives, and 80% to voters who voted for elected committee members; rewards are recalculated each 21-block epoch. The exact reward a holder receives therefore depends on holding, transfer/claim behavior, voting, and whether the chosen candidates are elected.

GAS uses integer Datoshi accounting: 1 Datoshi = 0.00000001 GAS and 100,000,000 Datoshi = 1 GAS. Wallets commonly expose a claim function, but exchange treatment of NEO-generated GAS varies, so users must check each venue’s policy.