The NEO project's treasury, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, has been managed through personal wallets with no multi-signature protections, according to co-founder Da Hongfei. He claims that Erik Zhang, the project's other co-founder, 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. Da has proposed a restructuring plan, which 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 two co-founders have been publicly airing their disputes since December, resulting in rival governance plans and an unsuccessful mediation effort. Da's proposal aims to introduce mutual disarmament, where both he and Zhang would sacrifice their individual control over assets.
However, the success of this plan depends on Zhang's cooperation, which is uncertain. The community is left to ponder the future of the project, with Da suggesting that they should take action if Zhang refuses to hand over control to a multi-signature governance system.