A Co-Founder Holds the Keys to $200 Million in Crypto, Sparking a Governance Dispute

The cryptocurrency project NEO has been embroiled in a long-standing dispute over its governance structure, with co-founder Da Hongfei claiming that fellow co-founder Erik Zhang holds the keys to approximately $200 million in crypto assets. This unusual arrangement, in which hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets are controlled through personal wallets with no multi-signature protections and little formal oversight, has sparked concerns about the project's financial management. Da has estimated that Zhang controls around 85% of the project's native NEO and GAS tokens, worth between $200 million and $250 million, with no multi-signature protections in place. In an effort to address these concerns, Da has proposed a restructuring plan that would introduce independent governance and multi-signature protection for the project's assets. The plan, which was published on GitHub, calls for the establishment of a five-member board, with neither Da nor Zhang eligible to serve on the board for a period of 24 months. The plan also proposes the redistribution of approximately 26 million NEO and 40 million GAS tokens to tokenholders. However, Zhang has countered with a rival proposal that would keep him on the board and maintain the project's current governance structure. Zhang's proposal also calls for a formal investigation into the project's historical asset management, including provisions to address potential corruption, improper asset transfers, and concealment of public assets. Da has dismissed these allegations, stating that there is no evidence of corruption or misuse of funds. The dispute between the two co-founders has been ongoing since December, with both sides airing their grievances in public. The situation has sparked concerns among observers, who note that the project's treasury holds approximately $460 million in assets, roughly double the project's current market value, while the token has dropped 98% from its 2018 peak. In an effort to break the deadlock, Da has framed his proposal as a form of mutual disarmament, in which both he and Zhang would relinquish control over the project's assets. However, the success of this 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-signature lock address. If Zhang refuses, Da has stated that the community will need to decide how to proceed.