Ontology is a blockchain protocol that is focused on resolving issues of trust, identity, authentication, verification, and authorization. Ontology allows public and private blockchain implementation, forming a matrix of the blockchain, therefore making Ontology an ideal platform for businesses and industries. Ontology is also going to connect with other blockchains, like NEO.
Ontology network provides a platform for secure data storage, hardware options for primary management and also encrypted data analysis. It also provides a framework all types of applications, which includes decentralized data exchange and management protocols via the use of APIs, SDKs, and other modules.
Ontology aims to create a trust ecosystem by partnering to provide distributed services that include data verification, data exchange, and lots more across different industries. Ontology can be applicable in almost all sectors including IoT (Internet of Things), finance, insurance, media, software development, payments, medical field, asset titles, and so on.
Ontology was first built around NEO’s NeoContracts, and ONT started out as a NEP5 token (a token that runs on the NEO blockchain). On June 30, 2018, Ontology launched its own MainNet, and holders swapped their NEP5 ONT for native ONT. Its chain now runs smart contracts on NeoVM, WASM and EVM.
How The Ontology Platform Works
- The first layer helps to verify people, wealth, things, and organizations.
- The second layer verifies applications and links them together.
- The third layer verifies link modules, protocols, Development kits and Application Interfaces.
- The last layer of the chain links different network protocols.
With this development, Ontology hopes to be the source for verifying authenticity and accuracy of identities or ownership. Social platforms are then able to integrate with Ontology for trust.
ONT Tokens and How To Get Them
It’s notable to mention that ONT never had a public sale where the ONT tokens were purchased. ONT tokens were first distributed through airdrops. The NEO holder airdrop happened when the snapshot of the network was taken on the 1st of March, 2018. Those who had NEO in their wallets or exchanges before the snapshot received 0.2 ONT for every NEO held.
Airdrop activities were as follows:
For every NEO held, token holders got 0.2 ONT, distributed twice. The first 0.1 ONT was airdropped in the week after the snapshot, and Ontology announced it complete on March 8, 2018. The other half (0.1 ONT) was scheduled for July 9, 2018, after the MainNet launch, and went to MainNet addresses. KuCoin reported its share of that distribution complete on August 3, 2018.
Kucoin and Binance were among the exchanges that passed the ONT airdrop on to users who held NEO on their platforms. The airdrop ended in 2018.
ONT tokens are also best held in non-exchange wallets. However, some wallets display their support for the ONT token while some do not. During the airdrop, ONT could also be claimed in wallets that did not display it.
Neon Wallet could hold the NEP5 version of ONT. Since the MainNet swap, ONT is held in wallets that support the Ontology chain, such as Ontology’s own ONTO Wallet.
There have been two previous airdrops for the ONT tokens in the past:
- Individuals who signed up for Ontology’s newsletter were asked to take part in a KYC exercise and received 1,000 ONT.
- Attendees of the NEO Devcon 2018 who physically handed over their passes with their emails on it to the Ontology booth receives 500 ONT tokens. An email was sent out on February 7, 2018, asking attendees to reply with their ONT wallet addresses. Further instructions are said to be sent later by the team.
To follow updates from the team, click here.
ONT became tradable on exchanges in 2018. By June 2018, before the MainNet launch, Binance was adding a USDT pair for it.
Ontology Team Members
Jun Li is the founder; he’s also the Co-founder of Onchain. He lists himself as the Chief Architect of the project.
Julia Yu is the head of the Marketing department for Ontology, and Onchain as well. She is very active on Reddit and also publishes articles on Medium about updates in the community.
Ontology-Partners
Onchain – Onchain may be the engine behind the Ontology platform, but Onchain and Ontology are separate entities. Onchain is a private for-profit parent organization of NEO.
NEO – ONT tokens is modeled after NEO. Same way NEO holders get the NEO GAS for holding NEO, ONT has a companion gas token, ONG (Ontology Gas), which pays for transactions on the network. Under tokenomics approved in October 2025, 80% of newly released ONG goes to ONT stakers, and ONG’s maximum supply was cut from 1 billion to 800 million.
Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF) – The first Chinese project in the Decentralized Identity Foundation which includes Microsoft, IBM, and IOTA is also an active partner of the Ontology project.
