A Single Individual Controls $200 Million in Crypto, Sparking Calls for Change

For a long time, the treasury of NEO has been managed through an unusual setup, with hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets controlled by personal wallets, lacking multisig protections and formal oversight. According to co-founder Da Hongfei, this person is Erik Zhang, the other co-founder and architect of the core protocol. Da stated that around 85% of the assets are controlled by Zhang alone, with a single signature, and have never been transferred to any individual or multisig. The native NEO and GAS tokens held by Zhang are currently valued between $200 million and $250 million, exceeding NEO's current market capitalization of $197 million. The two founders have been publicly disputing since December, resulting in rival governance plans and an unsuccessful mediation effort in Hong Kong. Da has proposed a restructuring plan, which includes relocating the Neo Foundation from Singapore to the Cayman Islands, establishing an independent five-member board, and redistributing approximately 26 million NEO and 40 million GAS to tokenholders. Zhang's counter-proposal involves remaining on the board and keeping the Foundation in Singapore. Zhang also calls for a formal investigation into historical asset management, addressing potential corruption and asset transfers. Da dismissed these accusations, stating that there is no corruption or misuse of funds. However, some observers find the numbers concerning, with NEO's treasury holding around $460 million in assets, roughly double the project's 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 framed his proposal as a mutual disarmament, where both he and Zhang would sacrifice their individual control over assets. The outcome depends on Zhang's cooperation, and Da committed to a one-to-three month timeline for the restructuring. If Zhang refuses, Da believes the community should decide the next steps.