Here's an alternative theory. Maybe by doing the presale they were trying to get more people involved and own stake in the coin, and to help fight the "free rider" problem as they state in their Strategic Plan:
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Maybe the 100% initial year interest rate is also to help fight the "free rider" problem. That is, if you want to benefit from Neucoin, you can't just buy some and sit on it. You have to at least help out by securing their network (ie mining) to get a proper reward.

That's what I love about this coin. They seem to understand that they need to keep incentives of the users of Neucoin aligned with the success of Neucoin itself. And every step of the way, so far, they have done that.