Erik Zhang is one of the leading names in the blockchain world since he co-founded and helped develop the NEO blockchain, often called the Chinese Ethereum. Thanks in large part to Zhang’s creation of the dBFT consensus algorithm, NEO has secured its place in the smart economy. Thanks to his work in information security and blockchain development, plus his CTO job at Onchain, he is respected as a leader in the crypto field. It is believed that Zhang earned his $10 million fortune from the design and promotion of NEO and other related projects. The article looks into Zhang’s role in cryptocurrency, what he has done with NEO, and his effect on blockchain as a whole.
How Erik Zhang has come to stand out in the Crypto World
Erik Zhang first learned about cryptocurrency in 2013 while employed at Shanda Games as a computer security expert. Because he was so drawn to what blockchain could do, he joined a crypto exchange, Huobi, before he met Da Hongfei at the Global Bitcoin Summit in 2014. Through the discussions, the pair decided to form Antshares, the first version of what became NEO. In 2017, the name Antshares was changed to NEO as the project moved to build an advanced economy based on digital assets, smart contracts, and digital IDs.
Because of Zhang’s highly developed technical skills, Antshares was able to change into NEO. While Da Hongfei promoted the project to the public, Zhang spent more time working on coding and development, as he said in a 2019 CCN interview. His efforts in developing the NEO infrastructure made him well known as a leading developer, with most of the platform’s early code written by him over almost two years, until the NEO community started growing in 2016.
The Smart Economy as Visions by the NEO Blockchain
NEO launched in 2017 and exists as a community-managed, open-source blockchain aimed at digitalizing assets and handling their management automatically with smart contracts. With Zhang inventing the dBFT consensus mechanism, NEO becomes unique, as it allows high speeds and dependability for projects in the business world. On the other hand, dBFT, unlike Ethereum’s other systems, allows only a chosen set of nodes to verify transactions, saving energy and allowing the network to grow. According to the 2019 Hacker Noon interview, Zhang planned for NEO to be a foundation for large-scale businesses that require reliability, a lot of transactions, and large data volumes.
The peak value of NEO in January 2018, at over $10 billion, reached that level because it was seen by many as a faster and more scalable alternative to Ethereum. Ether’s market cap was cut in half by 2019, and the currency finished behind many others, placing nineteenth out of all cryptocurrencies, Yahoo Finance reported. Nevertheless, Zhang did not seem bothered and reiterated in interviews that his priority was still improving the technology, not the state of NEO’s market. The new version of NEO, launched in 2020, offered native contracts, created a new manifest and permission framework, and NeoFS, a decentralized storage network, to make the platform easier to use by enterprises.
Contributions to Onchain and the Larger Blockchain
Along with NEO, Zhang helped launch Onchain, a tech business that aims to provide suitably designed blockchain services for companies. The integrated DNA of Onchain’s Distributed Network Architecture (DNA), together with NEO, provides Alibaba and Microsoft China with useful services. These solutions are developed under Zhang’s lead, making sure they are practical and useful for finance, supply chain, and network security. The Ontology blockchain by Onchain supports Neo independently, completing rather than competing with the NEO blockchain, according to Zhang in a Reddit AMA in September 2018.
Because of his work on NEO and Onchain, Zhang is known as a key figure in promoting blockchain use. He believes that blockchains will not be rejected by countries or regions if they fit with existing regulations. His work on NeoID shows how focused he is on bringing blockchain to businesses and making it useful for things like managing privacy and turning assets into digital versions.
Net Worth and What I Invest In
Erik Zhang is assumed to be worth $10 million in 2025 thanks to his holdings in NEO and Onchain, but may also have invested personal funds in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Since he helped introduce Bitcoin at Shanda Games, it is rumored that Zhang might have a large amount of digital assets. It seems clear from this 2019 Yahoo Finance interview that he is more interested in blockchain’s long-term growth than in the day-to-day market movements of NEO.
Like most cryptocurrency experts, Zhang only invests in projects that support decentralization and have real-world uses. He believes Ethereum’s smart contract system will help it become the top cryptocurrency, but says NEO’s plan is to foster a “smart economy,” not just a “world computer.”
So much knowledge and influence in such a short amount of time.
People appreciate Zhang in the crypto community because of his knowledge and direct comments. Many have praised the efficiency of dBFT, created by Da Hongfei, and his initiative for NEO 3.0 seeks to attract both developers and businesses to the platform. Zhang’s distrust in mainstream financial companies’ innovation in blockchain, mentioned in 2019, points to his main belief that decentralization can cut down on the need for trust.
Zhang continues to focus on the company’s goals despite the problems facing NEO. You can see his eagerness to be open and work with others by his regular posts on Reddit and Hacker Noon. Over the years, @Neo_Blockchain’s activity on X points to Neo’s founder addressing security matters and advertising the new NEO 3.0 features. Zhang’s story about Erik’s cat making NEO code endears him to people in the crypto space.
FAQs
1. What does Erik Zhang do for NEO?
Erik Zhang is the founder of NEO, designed the dBFT consensus, and serves as CTO at Onchain, leading the technical team.
2. In 2025, how much is Erik Zhang’s net worth?
Most of Zhang’s net worth is said to come from owning NEO and Onchain, with some contributions from other potential crypto profits.
3. How can we explain the NEO blockchain?
The NEO platform is designed to provide tools for digitizing assets and then makes transactions automatic using smart contracts in order to build a smart economy.
4. What does the dBFT consensus mechanism mean?
With Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance (dBFT), proposed by Zhang, NEO is able to handle a high amount of transactions quickly and efficiently.
5. What does Zhang believe Ethereum will do in the future?
Zhang predicts that Ethereum will eventually have a bigger market cap than Bitcoin because of its smart contract system, even though he says NEO offers something different.
