As of the latest update, NEO and GAS have experienced daily gains of 13% and 30%, respectively, primarily driven by trading activity involving Korean won (KRW) pairs on Upbit.
Market data indicates that NEO achieved a volume of $54.4 million on its KRW pair, while GAS registered a volume of $134.6 million, positioning both cryptocurrencies among the top performers of the day across various digital asset platforms.
This price increase comes after a substantial decline of 44% for NEO between March 24 and April 2, and a 32% drop for GAS during the same timeframe, bringing about a reversal that has taken market analysts by surprise.
Neo Bond Initiative
This price surge aligns with the recent introduction of the Neo Bond initiative, a market stabilization effort spearheaded by the Neo Foundation.
Launched on April 5 with a seven-day deposit period, the Neo Bond initiative allows NEO holders to stake their tokens for a period of 30 days in exchange for a 50% annual yield and a guaranteed price of $5 upon maturity.
Designed as a fixed-term vault, the Neo Bond aims to foster market stability through voluntary token lockups and incentives that build confidence. Participants need to transfer NEO from their personal Neo N3 wallets, with funds being automatically returned to the same address after the term ends, including interest and additional compensation if the token price dips below the $5 threshold.
To ensure liquidity and guarantee payouts, the Neo Foundation has pre-funded the bond with 1 million NEO in a multi-signature wallet, which manages all bond funds that are publicly verifiable.
Korean Retail Activity
Data from Upbit highlights significant KRW trading activity for both NEO and GAS. The demand for KRW has led to a sharp increase in prices for both assets, although price movements outside of Korean markets have been somewhat subdued.
As of April 9, the NEO/KRW pair represented over 60% of the token’s global trading volume, while GAS/KRW accounted for nearly 70% of the total volume, indicating a strong regional concentration.
The notable rise in GAS volume may indicate either derivative hedging activities or increased retail interest driven by the promotional visibility of the Neo Bond initiative.
Although GAS is primarily used for transaction fees within the Neo blockchain, its price closely follows that of NEO. According to the Pearson Correlation Coefficient, GAS exhibits a strong positive correlation of 0.94 with NEO over a one-year period, which rises to 0.96 on the one-month scale.
The Pearson Correlation Coefficient measures the relationship between two variables, with a range from complete absence of correlation (-1) to perfect correlation (1).