NEO and GAS post double-digit gains amid 50% APY incentive program

NEO and GAS experienced significant gains of 13% and 30% respectively, driven by trading activity with Korean won (KRW) pairs on Upbit at the time of writing.

Market data shows that NEO saw $54.4 million in trading volume on its KRW pair, while GAS recorded $134.6 million, positioning both cryptocurrencies as top performers for the day across various digital asset platforms.

This surge comes after a sharp 44% decline for NEO and a 32% drop for GAS between March 24 and April 2, defying expectations and surprising market participants.

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Neo Bond Program

The spike in prices coincides with the recent launch of the Neo Bond program, an initiative by the Neo Foundation aimed at stabilizing the market.

The Neo Bond program, which opened for participation on April 5 with a seven-day deposit period, allows NEO holders to lock their tokens for 30 days in exchange for a 50% annualized yield and a guaranteed $5 price at maturity.

Structured as a fixed-term vault, the Neo Bond encourages market stability through voluntary token lockups and incentives for confidence. Participants need to transfer NEO from their personal Neo N3 wallets, and upon completion of the term, including interest and potential compensation if the token price falls below $5, funds are automatically returned to the same address.

To ensure liquidity and payout capacity, the Neo Foundation pre-funded the bond with 1 million NEO in a multi-signature wallet. The wallet manages all publicly verifiable bond funds.

Korean Retail Trading

Data from Upbit indicates significant KRW trading activity for both NEO and GAS, driving up their prices. While Korean markets showed a notable increase, price movements in other regions were less pronounced.

On April 9, the NEO/KRW pair represented over 60% of the token’s global trading volume, with GAS/KRW approaching 70% of the total volume, highlighting regional focus.

The surge in GAS volume suggests potential derivative hedging or retail interest stimulated by the visibility of the Neo Bond program.

Although GAS is primarily used for transaction fees on the Neo blockchain, its price closely correlates with NEO. Over a one-year period, the Pearson Correlation Coefficient shows a 0.94 positive correlation between GAS and NEO, increasing to 0.96 in the one-month timeframe.

The Pearson Correlation Coefficient measures the relationship between two variables, ranging from no correlation (-1) to complete correlation (1).