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

The NEO project's treasury has been managed through an unconventional setup, with hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets controlled by personal wallets and lacking multisig protections. According to co-founder Da Hongfei, approximately 85% of the assets are controlled by Erik Zhang, the project's other co-founder, with single signature authority. The value of the native NEO and GAS tokens held by Zhang is estimated to be between $200 million and $250 million. 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 counter-proposal involves staying on the board and maintaining the Foundation's current location in Singapore. Zhang's plan also calls for a formal investigation into historical asset management, which Da has dismissed as an empty accusation. The dispute between the co-founders has resulted in a stalemate, with each holding significant leverage over the other. Da has framed his proposal as a form of mutual disarmament, where both he and Zhang would relinquish control over the assets. However, the success of this plan depends on Zhang's cooperation, and Da has acknowledged that the community may need to intervene if Zhang refuses to transfer the single-signature token holdings to a multisig lock address.