A Single Individual Controls $200 Million in Crypto for a Project, Sparking Governance Debate

For several years, the NEO project's treasury was managed in an unconventional manner, with hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency assets controlled through personal wallets lacking multi-signature protections and formal oversight. According to co-founder Da Hongfei, this responsibility falls on the shoulders of Erik Zhang, the project's other co-founder and core protocol architect. Da estimates that Zhang alone controls around 85% of the assets, valued between $200 million and $250 million, with single-signature authority and without any transfer to multi-sig or individual entities. The native NEO and GAS tokens held by Zhang are currently worth more than the project's $197 million market capitalization. The two founders have been publicly disputing since December, resulting in rival governance plans and an unsuccessful mediation attempt in Hong Kong. Da's proposal, published on GitHub, suggests redomiciling the Neo Foundation to the Cayman Islands, replacing the current governance with an independent board, and redistributing tokens to holders. In contrast, Zhang's counter-proposal involves staying on the board and keeping the foundation in Singapore, along with a formal investigation into historical asset management. Da dismisses these accusations, stating there is no corruption or misuse of funds. Observers note the stark contrast between the project's treasury and its market value, with the token having dropped 98% from its 2018 peak. The treasury holds approximately $460 million in assets, twice the project's market value. Da's proposal is framed as a mutual disarmament, where both he and Zhang would relinquish control over the assets. However, the success of this plan relies on Zhang's cooperation, and Da is uncertain if he will agree.