Co-Founder Holds Keys to $200 Million in Crypto, Sparking Governance Debate

The NEO project's treasury, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, has been controlled through personal wallets with no multi-sig protections, according to co-founder Da Hongfei. He claims that Erik Zhang, the project's other co-founder, holds around 85% of the assets, worth between $200 million and $250 million, with single signature control. Da has proposed a restructuring plan, which includes replacing the current two-founder governance with an independent five-member board and redistributing tokens to holders. Zhang has countered with his own proposal, calling for a formal investigation into historical asset management and provisions to address potential corruption. The dispute between the co-founders has been ongoing since December and has resulted in rival governance plans and an unsuccessful mediation effort. Da's plan would see the Neo Foundation redomiciled from Singapore to the Cayman Islands and would bar both founders from the board for 24 months. Zhang's proposal, on the other hand, would keep the Foundation in Singapore and allow him to remain on the board. The dispute has sparked concerns among observers, with some pointing out that NEO's treasury holds roughly double the project's market value, while the token has dropped 98% from its 2018 peak. Da has framed his proposal as a form of mutual disarmament, where both he and Zhang would give up control over the assets. However, the success of the plan depends on Zhang's cooperation, and it remains to be seen whether he will agree to transfer the single-signature token holdings to a multi-sig lock address.