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

The treasury of the NEO project has been managed in an unconventional manner, with hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets controlled by personal wallets lacking multi-signature protections and formal oversight. According to co-founder Da Hongfei, Erik Zhang, the project's other co-founder and core protocol architect, holds around 85% of the assets, worth between $200 million and $250 million, with single-signature control. This amount exceeds the project's current market capitalization of $197 million. The dispute between the founders has led to the creation of rival governance plans, with Da's proposal involving the establishment of an independent five-member board, the redistribution of tokens to holders, and the relocation of the Neo Foundation from Singapore to the Cayman Islands. In contrast, Zhang's proposal emphasizes the need for an investigation into historical asset management and seeks to maintain his position on the board. The situation has resulted in a stalemate, with both founders holding significant leverage over the project's assets and neither willing to relinquish control. Da has characterized his proposal as a form of mutual disarmament, where both he and Zhang would sacrifice their individual control over assets. However, the success of this plan relies on Zhang's cooperation, and the community may need to intervene if he refuses to transfer the single-signature token holdings to a multi-signature lock address.