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

The NEO project's treasury, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets, has been controlled by a single individual, co-founder Erik Zhang, with no multi-signature protections in place. According to Da Hongfei, the other co-founder, around 85% of the project's assets are controlled by Zhang alone, with an estimated value of between $200 million and $250 million. This has led to a dispute between the two founders, with Da calling for a restructuring of the project's governance, including the creation of an independent five-member board and the redistribution of tokens to holders. Zhang, on the other hand, has proposed an alternative plan that includes a formal investigation into historical asset management and the potential for corruption. The two founders have been airing their disputes publicly since December, resulting in rival governance plans and an unsuccessful mediation effort. Da's proposal, published on GitHub, calls for the project's foundation to be redomiciled in the Cayman Islands and for both founders to be barred from the board for 24 months. Zhang's counter-proposal, however, suggests that the foundation should remain in Singapore and that he should continue to play a role on the board. The dispute has raised concerns among observers, with some pointing out that the project's treasury holds approximately $460 million in assets, roughly double the project's market value, while the token has dropped 98% from its 2018 peak. The situation has resulted in a stalemate, with each founder holding leverage over the other and neither willing to move first. Da has framed his proposal as a form of mutual disarmament, in which both he and Zhang would sacrifice their individual control over the project's assets. However, the success of this plan depends entirely 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.