Long-standing domestic public blockchain NEO sees feud between two co-founders, with opaque finances as the core reason
It's unexpected to see even the long-standing domestic public chain having such a day. What's even more lamentable is that the domestic top AI projects Manus, Kimi, and Minimax have had consecutive heavyweight news for two days in a row. Either they were acquired for tens of billions of dollars, or they received billions in financing. However, the long-standing public chain has surprisingly started to have a falling out.
Currently, it seems that the two co-founders of the NEO public chain established in 2014, Zhang Zhongwen (Erik Zhang) and Da Hongfei, have basically completely fallen out, and they are still continuously bickering on Weibo. Based on the statements of both parties and public information online, an attempt has been made to figure out what exactly happened between the two founders of this long-standing public chain.
Financial Black Box
In fact, Zhang Zhongwen had already left NEO a few years ago, which he also confirmed on his own Twitter, and then officially returned in September this year. The catalyst for this falling out was in November when, according to community sources and public records, Zhang Zhongwen, as the technical core, encountered obstacles when seeking to obtain a detailed financial report and fund flow of the Neo Foundation.

Following this, Zhang Zhongwen accused the Neo Foundation of long-term opaque operation, with the asset situation resembling a "black box." He pointed out that Da Hongfei had long been in sole control of the Foundation's assets other than NEO/GAS tokens, and there was a lack of a comprehensive, auditable disclosure mechanism.
In today's back-and-forth between the two sides, we also discovered the reason why Zhang Zhongwen had left before. He said that Da Hongfei had approached him alone, saying that the two of them were inefficient in managing NEO, so he chose to temporarily step down from the management team in order to "increase efficiency." However, he found that Da Hongfei was using NEO's resources to develop an independent public chain project, EON. This also prompted his return and involvement in Foundation governance.
In a community discussion in November, Zhang Zhongwen had previously stated that NEO had relied on hackathons to create a "false prosperity" before, with no real users, and many hackathon projects disappeared after winning awards.
Escalation of Conflict
In December, Zhang Zhongwen publicly released a statement demanding that Da Hongfei fulfill his commitment to financial disclosure starting from December 9. Even more explosively, Zhang Zhongwen unilaterally announced that, according to a previous verbal agreement between the two, starting from January 1, 2026, Da Hongfei would no longer be involved in NEO MainNet affairs but would instead focus on the NeoX sidechain and the development and operation of the new project SpoonOS.
Da Hongfei promptly responded, stating that Zhang Zhongwen effectively controlled the vast majority of the funds in the NEO ecosystem (including core assets NEO and GAS tokens) and dominated the voting rights of consensus nodes. He also accused Zhang Zhongwen of delaying the transfer of funds to the Foundation's multisig address for years under various pretexts (such as waiting for the N3 migration to complete).
Dahongfei has committed to releasing the year-end financial report for 2025 in the first quarter of 2026 and will provide a preview of the data in advance.
You may also like

Morning Report | CoinEx becomes a key hub for Iran to evade sanctions, involving over $3.8 billion in funds; Kalshi seeks a new round of financing, with a valuation potentially rising to $40 billion

From the white-haired stock god to the billionaire fund mogul, the smart people shorting Nvidia are all getting rich using the same framework

Why do cryptocurrency projects always like to change their names?

Global Launch: As predictions become the most scarce asset in the AI era, Manadia is defining the next generation of the value internet

Who is footing the bill for the $64 billion accounting frenzy?

I never expected that the first application of AI x Crypto would be in security auditing

What is your view on Binance's competitive advantages?

ETH has entered a non-consensus phase, and the turning point is approaching!

The shift in the cloud of the air: from despising stablecoins a year ago to the high-profile entry of capital today

The survival dilemma of small and medium exchanges behind the withdrawal anomalies exposed by AscendEX

Why Is Bitcoin Falling Below $60K? 5 Key Market Drivers Explained
Bitcoin has dropped sharply amid ETF outflows, Strategy stock weakness, AI stock rallies, and changing Fed expectations. Explore the key forces driving BTC’s latest correction and what traders should watch next.

Bitcoin vs. Gold in 2026: Which Asset Performs Better in Different Markets?

Morning News | The draft amendment to the People's Bank of China Law aims to clarify the legal status of digital renminbi; South Korea will transfer about 40 unregistered virtual asset service providers to law enforcement agencies

The cryptocurrency industry has entered the "Show Me" era: merely relying on vision is no longer enough

Interpreting the Ethereum Foundation's new structure: Reaffirming self-sovereignty amid institutional trends

Former SpaceX engineer reconstructs the financial execution system using first principles

Standard Chartered Bank sings a 50x rhapsody again, aiming for AAVE to reach 3500 USD

