The NEO project's treasury, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets, has been managed through personal wallets without multi-signature protections or formal oversight for years. According to co-founder Da Hongfei, the individual controlling around 85% of the project's assets with a single signature is Erik Zhang, the other co-founder and architect of its core protocol. The native NEO and GAS tokens held by Zhang are estimated to be worth between $200 million and $250 million, exceeding the project's current market capitalization of $197 million. The two co-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, the establishment of an independent five-member board, and the redistribution of approximately 26 million NEO and 40 million GAS tokens to holders. In contrast, Zhang's counter-proposal involves remaining on the board and keeping the Foundation in Singapore, along with a formal investigation into historical asset management. Da has dismissed these provisions as baseless accusations, stating that there has been no corruption or misuse of funds. However, some observers note that the project's treasury holds around $460 million in assets, roughly double its market value, while the token has dropped 98% from its 2018 peak.
The treasury is split between two halves, with the native tokens largely under Zhang's control and the non-token assets, including over $200 million in bitcoin, ether, and stablecoins, managed by NGD, the entity run by Da. Da views his proposal as a form of mutual disarmament, where both he and Zhang would relinquish their individual control over the assets. The success of this proposal depends on Zhang's cooperation, and Da has committed to a one-to-three month timeline for its implementation.