Co-Founder of $200 Million Crypto Project Holds Sole Control, Sparking Governance Debate

The NEO project has been managed with an unusual financial setup, with hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets controlled by personal wallets and lacking formal oversight. According to co-founder Da Hongfei, Erik Zhang, the project's other co-founder, holds around 85% of the project's assets, valued between $200 million and $250 million, with single-signature control. Da has proposed a restructuring plan that includes establishing an independent five-member board, replacing the current two-founder governance, and redistributing tokens to holders. In contrast, Zhang's counter-proposal calls for a formal investigation into historical asset management and seeks to maintain his position on the board. The dispute between the co-founders has sparked a debate over the project's governance, with some observers noting the project's treasury holds approximately $460 million in assets, double its market value, while the token has dropped 98% from its 2018 peak. The treasury is split between two halves, with the native NEO and GAS tokens under Zhang's control and the non-token assets managed by NGD, the entity run by Da. 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 restructuring depends on Zhang's cooperation, and it remains uncertain whether he will agree to the proposed changes.