A Single Individual Controls $200 Million in Crypto for a Project, Sparking Calls for Change

For years, the treasury of NEO, a cryptocurrency project, has been managed in an unconventional manner, with hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets controlled by personal wallets lacking multi-signature protections and formal oversight. According to co-founder Da Hongfei, the individual in control of these assets is Erik Zhang, the project's other co-founder and core protocol architect. Da estimates that Zhang holds between $200 million and $250 million worth of NEO and GAS tokens, exceeding the project's current market capitalization of $197 million. The two co-founders have been publicly disputing since December, resulting in rival governance plans and an unsuccessful mediation effort. Da has proposed a restructuring plan that involves redomiciling the Neo Foundation to the Cayman Islands, establishing an independent five-member board, and redistributing tokens to holders. In contrast, Zhang's plan calls for an investigation into historical asset management and keeping the Foundation in Singapore. The situation has led to a stalemate, with both co-founders holding significant control over the project's assets and neither willing to relinquish power. Da has framed his proposal as a form of mutual disarmament, where both he and Zhang would sacrifice their individual control over assets. However, the success of this plan relies on Zhang's cooperation, and it remains uncertain whether he will agree to transfer his single-signature token holdings to a multi-signature lock address.