Maybe NEO is a very fast blockchain and it is convenient to make smart contracts on it, but it does not become more popular in the crypto market because of this, here popularity is measured by the growth of the coin and NEO does not really want to grow and develop in this direction, they are satisfied with their place in the market and they are not interested in popularizing their coin.
There are many fast and powerful blockchains in the crypto market: Neo, EOS, Tezos, Waves... but their native tokens are not really attractive enough to invest in because they do not bring large enough profits. Perhaps the whales have abandoned these ecosystems after earning huge profits in the bullrun 2017, and then they went looking for bigger opportunities with more vibrant ecosystems and newer projects.
Perhaps Neo has really been forgotten, for a long time I have not known of any major events taking place in the Neo ecosystem, and the NEO price has not had a significant recovery in the past year even though the NEO price chart has crossed Weekly EMA34 (Sonic R). I really don't have enough confidence to continue to choose NEO for my investment portfolio in this cycle.