NEO's treasury, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets, has been managed through personal wallets with no multi-signature protections and limited formal oversight. According to co-founder Da Hongfei, Erik Zhang, the other co-founder and architect of the core protocol, controls around 85% of the assets with a single signature. The native NEO and GAS tokens held by Zhang are estimated to be worth 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.
Da's proposal, published on GitHub, calls for the Neo Foundation to be redomiciled from Singapore to the Cayman Islands, replacing the current two-founder governance with an independent five-member board, and redistributing approximately 26 million NEO and 40 million GAS to tokenholders. In contrast, Zhang's counter-proposal suggests staying on the board and keeping the Foundation in Singapore, with a focus on a formal investigation into historical asset management. Da has dismissed these provisions as baseless accusations, stating that there is no corruption or misuse of funds. The treasury holds around $460 million in assets, roughly double the project's market value, with the token having dropped 98% from its 2018 peak.
The dispute has resulted in a split treasury, with Da's entity, NGD, managing non-token assets, including over $200 million in bitcoin, ether, stablecoins, and investments. Da has framed his proposal as mutual disarmament, requiring both himself and Zhang to relinquish individual control over assets.
However, the success of this proposal depends on Zhang's cooperation, and Da has stated that if Zhang refuses, the community should decide the next course of action.