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

The management of NEO's treasury has been unconventional, with hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets controlled through personal wallets, lacking multi-signature protections and formal oversight. According to co-founder Da Hongfei, the individual in control of around 85% of these assets is Erik Zhang, the other co-founder and architect of NEO's core protocol. Da estimated that the native NEO and GAS tokens held by Zhang are currently worth between $200 million and $250 million. This amount exceeds NEO's current market capitalization of $197 million. Zhang has countered with accusations against Da, and the two founders have been publicly disputing since December. The disagreement has led to rival governance plans and an unsuccessful mediation effort in Hong Kong. Da proposed a restructuring plan on GitHub, which involves relocating the Neo Foundation from Singapore to the Cayman Islands, establishing an independent five-member board, and preventing both founders from serving on the board for 24 months. Additionally, the plan includes redistributing approximately 26 million NEO and 40 million GAS to tokenholders. In response, Zhang's counter-proposal suggests maintaining the Foundation's current location in Singapore and keeping himself on the board. Zhang's plan also calls for a formal investigation into historical asset management, addressing potential corruption, improper asset transfers, and concealment of public assets. Da dismissed these accusations, stating that there is no corruption or misuse of funds. Observers have noted that NEO's treasury holds 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 divided into two halves, with the native NEO and GAS tokens primarily under Zhang's single-signature control, and the second half, comprising bitcoin, ether, stablecoins, and other investments, managed by NGD, the entity run by Da. The non-token assets have grown to over $200 million, mainly due to the appreciation of BTC and ETH holdings. As a result, the treasury is split almost evenly between two individuals who are no longer communicating productively, each holding leverage over the other. Da framed his proposal as a form of mutual disarmament, where both he and Zhang would sacrifice their individual control over assets. Da expressed his willingness to cooperate but is unsure if Zhang will do the same. The success of Da's restructuring plan relies entirely on Zhang's cooperation, particularly in transferring the single-signature token holdings to a multi-signature lock address. If Zhang refuses, Da believes the community should decide the course of action.