Neo co-founder Da Hongfei has proposed a sweeping overhaul of the Neo Basis after years of impasse with co-founder Erik Zhang left considered one of crypto’s oldest networks successfully paralyzed.
The plan follows Neo’s first public monetary disclosure since 2019, exhibiting about $461 million in property held throughout the Neo Basis (NF) and Neo International Growth (NGD) on the finish of 2025.
The proposed restructuring goals to exchange what Hongfei described as casual, founder-driven governance, arguing the result might function a take a look at case for the way getting older blockchain networks handle massive treasuries and transition away from founder management.
Zhang has pushed again on key parts of the proposal, exposing additional divisions on the high of the challenge and growing scrutiny from customers and traders.
Hongfei instructed Cointelegraph that on the core of the restructuring is a break with the founder-centric mannequin that outlined Neo’s first decade.
The proposal would redomicile the inspiration to the Cayman Islands, create a five-member board and an unbiased Supervisor with energy to dam bylaw breaches, and impose a 24-month ban on both founder sitting on the board or supervisory physique.
Neo’s battle has change into a case research in how older blockchain networks with massive treasuries battle to maneuver past founder-centric governance, particularly after years of casual management and restricted public monetary disclosure.
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Returning NEO tokens to the group
In response to the disclosure, NF and NGD presently management about 41 million NEO (31.3%), primarily below single-signature management. Hongfei’s “Giveback II” plan would return 49.5 million reserved NEO (NEO) to the group and consolidate NGD-managed investments again into the inspiration, which might function below necessary annual monetary studies, onchain attestations for big transfers, and absolutely disclosed multi-signature wallets for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), stablecoins and different liquid property.
He mentioned the modifications are designed to exchange “belief me” governance round treasury and custody, pointing to Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin’s influence-through-research mannequin as a typical founders ought to emulate.
Zhang stays unconvinced, arguing that the proposal grounds Neo’s legitimacy in offchain authorized buildings and nonetheless leaves room for opaque third-party attestations as an alternative of instantly verifiable onchain addresses.
He mentioned excluding him from the board for twenty-four months strips Neo of important technical oversight, calling the Cayman “reset” a beauty shell change that dodges historic accountability and unresolved transparency points.
Governance woes throughout decentralized finance
The push comes as governance fights and perceived insider benefits dominate debate throughout decentralized finance. Aave’s long-running dispute between the founder-aligned Aave Chan Initiative and different stakeholders has raised questions on how a lot energy entrenched service suppliers ought to wield inside decentralized autonomous organizations.
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Neo’s wager to revive community relevance
Behind the governance reset sits an try to offer Neo a reputable new thesis in a market the place exercise has consolidated onto Ethereum, a couple of layer-2s, Solana, and a handful of different chains.
Hongfei conceded Neo’s consumer base in the present day is “not the place it was within the 2017 to 2021 cycle,” and the numbers “mirror a challenge that has seen higher days.”
He mentioned customers are extra concentrated in long-term holders and group teams; the Chinese language market that after fueled exercise has shrunk below Beijing’s bans, and Neo missed “DeFi Summer season” after delays in delivery its N3 improve.
He now argues that the subsequent decade of onchain exercise can be pushed much less by people than by autonomous AI brokers transacting on their behalf, positioning Neo X as an “agent-first” blockchain optimized for the shift.
He mentioned the true take a look at for each the governance reboot and the AI thesis can be whether or not, over the subsequent 12 to 24 months, Neo can full its restructuring and appeal to a significant pipeline of agent-native initiatives, and whether or not he would nonetheless search a board seat if these milestones are missed.
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