Neos Credits

Official NCR icon

Neos Credits (NCR) is the official currency for use within the NeosVR metaverse. NCR will be the primary means of exchange of digital goods and services on the platform once the planned store, jobs, and marketplace features are implemented. However, in the current beta version of NeosVR, it is only possible to ‘tip’ other users with NCR.

NCR is in the process of being created, or minted, via its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) as set out in the NeosVR whitepaper. The format of the NCR ICO was intentionally designed to provide stable and steady growth for early adopters and long-term holders, as well as to facilitate use of NCR as a real currency rather than for speculation. Funds accrued through the Ethereum minting of NCR will be used exclusively to fund development of the NeosVR metaverse thorough expansion of the Neos Team, grants and awards for creators, as well as other purposes for directly improving the value and enjoyment of time spent in Neos.

Questions concerning NCR and the future NeosVR economy can be raised on the 💲neos-credits-ncr channel of the NeosVR Discord server and/or addressed directly to the Solirax Ltd. CEO Karel Hulec.

Technical features

NCR is an ERC20 utility token present on the Ethereum blockchain, as set out in the whitepaper. As such, NCR is classified as a cryptocurrency. Key details are as follows:

• NCR genesis contract address: 0xdb5c3c46e28b53a39c255aa39a411dd64e5fed9c
• NCR minting contract address: 0x7CCBac6D333838608be0c40E124381016F4c81Fc
• Total supply: 50,000,000 NCR
• Total mint: 48,000,000 NCR
• Community Developer Fund: 2,000,000 NCR
• Number of batches: 500
• Batch size: 100,000 NCR
• Value each batch: +1.25%
• Initial minting price: 0.06 USD
• Initial minting cap: 3 million USD
• Final minting price: ≈29.53 USD_‡
• Final minting cap: ≈1.47 billion USD_‡
• Decimal places: 18
• Subunits: 1 Neos Credit
• = 1,000 Neos Units
• = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 noi
• Character sign: ℕ Double-Struck Capital N (Unicode +2115)

‡ hypothetical values if/when total mint is complete

Using NCR with NeosVR

Every NeosVR account has an associated managed wallet for NCR. Private keys for these wallets are held in cold storage. NCR can be natively sent and received by users as ‘tips’ within NeosVR as well as withdrawn to / deposited from external cryptocurrency wallets. The current balance of a user’s managed wallet is shown by the UserInfo facet in the Dash menu (present toward the top left of the Dash Home screen by default). This also shows balances for KFC (Kompletely Fake Coin), an explicitly valueless token intended for testing purposes, and CDFT.

Tips may be sent to another user using the ‘Send Credits’ button on the the Contacts screen in the Dash or via objects using the TipJar component. There are several manual confirmations required to send a tip, so users are extremely unlikely to accidentally send NCR if they do not mean to. Currently, transactions between users managed wallets in-Neos are not present on the Ethereum blockchain which avoids transaction fees and allows for quicker transfers. Withdrawals and deposits to and from external wallets are validated on the blockchain and, at present, must be manually processed by Karel Hulec, this may take up to 48 hours. The addresses for withdrawing / depositing credits can be found by pressing the respective buttons in the facet on the Dash Home screen (by default present towards the lower right side).

See #Tutorials for guides which include the depositing / withdrawal processes.

Minting and ICO

NCR minting price curve (linear axis)

NCR minting price curve (logarithmic axis)

NCR is currently undergoing its ICO where new NCR tokens can be minted by sending Ether (ETH) to the NCR minting contract address: 0x7CCBac6D333838608be0c40E124381016F4c81Fc. Note that this minting address is NOT the same as the genesis contract address - ETH should not be sent to the genesis contract address or it may be irretrievably lost!

Minting proceeds in batches of 100,000 NCR with a total of 500 batches required to reach the 50,000,000 NCR total. Note that only 48,000,000 NCR is available to be minted by the public due to the allocation of 2,000,000 NCR to the Community Developer Fund (CDF).

The cost to mint NCR has a fixed price per batch denominated in US Dollars ($, USD); the price for the first batch was 0.06 USD and the price rises by 1.25% per batch. This results in an exponentially growing USD per NCR ratio as minting proceeds (see figures on the right). For the final batch, the price per NCR will be ≈29.53 USD. Following completion of minting, the price of NCR will be determined by trading demand on cryptocurrency exchanges and its use within the NeosVR marketplace features. The progress of the ICO, including the current batch number, can be seen on the official NeosVR website. An important feature of the NCR minting price being denominated in the relatively stable USD is that people wishing to mint NCR by purchasing ETH with traditional fiat currencies (such as USD, EUR, CNY, JPY etc.) do not need to be particularly concerned about the variable ETH/USD exchange rate.

NCR is minted by exchanging ETH for NCR, however the price of NCR per batch is set in USD. The ETH/USD exchange rate fluctuates (sometimes substantially), therefore the price of NCR in ETH is also variable. Minting transactions are currently processed manually by Karel Hulec who determines the exchange rate at time of processing. Karel compares the price listed on the NeosVR website and the current ETH/USD exchange rate and uses whichever is most favorable for the ETH sender. During times of market volatility, ETH senders may also wish to privately notify Karel in the event of a price spike around the time that they make the transaction. Processing of transactions is performed in order of their blockchain confirmation times within 48 hours. Seven blockchain confirmations are required for a transaction to be considered confirmed.

Note that, in order to receive minted NCR, ETH must be sent from a wallet which directly manages your private key and is able to receive ERC20 tokens, such as Metamask. Generally, accounts managed by an exchange (Coinbase, Bitstamp, Kraken etc.) are not suitable for receiving NCR! ETH may be permanently lost if it is sent to the minting address from an unsuitable wallet. Due to price movements from trading or shifts in the ETH/USD exchange rate, it is possible that trading ETH for NCR on Uniswap may be more efficient than minting new NCR.

For a step-by-step guide on minting NCR starting with fiat currency see #Tutorials.

Patreon rewards

Aside from directly minting NCR, it is possible to receive NCR as part of the reward for supporting NeosVR on Patreon. The amount varies depending on the Patreon membership tier (starting from the $6 Blade Runner tier) and will usually represent approximately 50 – 70% of the value of the corresponding pledge. Note that the rewards at specific tiers are periodically halved to maintain this ratio as the value of NCR grows during the ICO, the next reward halving occurs at batch 80. It is possible to pledge an amount higher than any specifically listed tier and to receive a corresponding amount of NCR. However, this is only possible if the pledge is denominated in USD. NCR rewards for pledges denominated in other currencies, but not exactly matching any official tier, will only be equal to the reward for the tier below the value of the pledge. This discrepancy is due to design choice in the Patreon API which means the Neos team cannot determine the exact exchange rate, and thus appropriate reward scale, used for non-USD pledges.

Patreon transactions for NeosVR are processed at the start of each month and Patreon income is then used to mint NCR for rewards. For Patrons subscribing mid-month, no money will be taken (and no NCR rewards provided) until the start of the next month when they are first billed. NCR rewards are typically distributed a few days after the start of each month and are paid into a user’s managed in-Neos wallet. If a patron does not have a NeosVR account linked to their Patreon account, their NCR rewards will be allocated at the time they choose to link their accounts. There are two caveats here which mean linking to a NeosVR account is strongly recommended immediately upon becoming a Patron:

• The reward amount is calculated using the exchange rate at time of account linking, therefore a Patron may lose out on NCR rewards if part of their membership was spent at a higher exchange rate before a reward halving.
• Upon account linking, the system will attempt to match the pledged amounts to a specific pledge tier. If the Patron has subscribed in a non-USD currency this will not be possible and the system will provide rewards corresponding to the tier below the total amount. E.g. A Patron pledged at the ($12) Gunter tier for 4 months in any non-USD currency and then linked to a NeosVR account to claim their rewards. They will get $36 worth of rewards (according to the Patreon membership reward scale) because that is the closest perk below the unclaimed sum of $48, with the next perk level being $72.

Trading NCR on exchanges

NCR may be traded for ETH on ForkDelta or Uniswap.

Tutorials

It is strongly recommended that people intending to mint NCR, or otherwise use cryptocurrency, familiarise themselves with some of the fundamentals of the technology. Cryptocurrencies are an area of extremely active software development and may present advantages over fiat currencies for certain purposes. However, more responsibility rests with users to ensure the security of their funds and that their transactions are sent to the correct addresses due to the decentralised nature of cryptocurrencies. Note that the regulatory environment (including taxation rules) governing cryptocurrency transactions and storage can vary between states and countries - it is the responsibility of each individual to determine how to comply with local laws. Below are some useful introductory videos:

• An accessible introduction to the basics of cryptocurrency:

• Video tutorial produced by Karel which covers buying Ethereum, minting NCR, and sending it to the in-Neos managed wallet (Note that some UI shown in the video is now out of date):

• Video tutorial produced by Karel which covers withdrawing NCR from the in-Neos wallet and selling it on an exchange (Note that some UI shown in the video is now out of date):