The NEO project's treasury, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, has been controlled by co-founder Erik Zhang through personal wallets without multisig protection or formal oversight. According to co-founder Da Hongfei, Zhang holds around 85% of the project's native tokens, worth between $200 million and $250 million, with single-signature control.
Da has proposed a restructuring plan that includes replacing the current two-founder governance with an independent five-member board and redistributing tokens to holders. In response, Zhang has called for a formal investigation into historical asset management, including potential corruption and improper asset transfers. The dispute has led to rival governance plans and an unsuccessful mediation effort.
Da's proposal aims to establish mutual disarmament, where both he and Zhang would sacrifice individual control over assets. However, the plan's success depends on Zhang's cooperation, and Da has stated that the community should decide the next steps if Zhang refuses to transfer the single-signature token holdings to a multisig lock address.