Neo co‑founder Da Hongfei has unveiled a sweeping plan to restructure the Neo Foundation after a prolonged stalemate with fellow co‑founder Erik Zhang left the network largely stalled. The proposal follows Neo’s first public financial disclosure since 2019, which showed roughly $461 million in assets held between the Neo Foundation (NF) and Neo Global Development (NGD) at the end of 2025.
Hongfei frames the plan as an attempt to replace informal, founder‑driven governance with formal legal and operational controls that would reduce reliance on personal assurances — what he calls the ‘trust me’ approach that dominated Neo’s early years. He presents the package as a potential model for legacy blockchains with large treasuries that need to step back from concentrated founder control.
Key corporate and governance changes in the proposal include redomiciling the foundation to the Cayman Islands, creating a five‑member board plus an independent Supervisor with authority to block bylaw breaches, and imposing a 24‑month ban preventing either founder from serving on the board or supervisory body. The plan would also consolidate NGD‑managed investments into the foundation.
Returning NEO tokens to the community is central to the proposal. The disclosure shows NF and NGD currently control about 41 million NEO (roughly 31.3%), much of it held under single‑signature control. Under Hongfei’s ‘Giveback II’ proposal, 49.5 million reserved NEO would be returned to the community and treasury custody would be tightened with mandatory annual financial reports, on‑chain attestations for large transfers, and publicly disclosed multisignature wallets for BTC, ETH, stablecoins and other liquid assets.
Hongfei cites Ethereum co‑founder Vitalik Buterin’s ‘influence‑through‑research’ approach as an example founders should emulate by shifting from direct control to stewardship and community influence. He argues the overhaul is also aimed at reviving Neo’s relevance as the market consolidated around Ethereum, a few layer‑2s, Solana and others. Hongfei says Neo’s active user base has dwindled since the 2017–2021 cycle, hurt by concentrated long‑term holdings, the shrinking Chinese market after regulatory bans, and delays to the N3 upgrade.
Zhang has publicly opposed major elements of the plan, underlining a leadership split and prompting closer scrutiny from users and investors. He argues the Cayman redomicile merely roots Neo’s legitimacy in off‑chain legal structures and that the proposal can still rely on opaque third‑party attestations rather than fully verifiable on‑chain addresses. Zhang also says a 24‑month exclusion of the founders from governance would remove needed technical oversight and that the reset does not address past accountability or transparency gaps.
The Neo dispute echoes wider governance debates in decentralized finance, where clashes over founder influence, insider advantages and discretionary treasury control have been recurring issues. Observers point to earlier controversies — such as the Aave ‘Chan Initiative’ fight and criticism over other projects’ token unlocks and discretionary controls — as part of a broader pattern of governance friction in the industry.
Beyond governance, Hongfei is pitching a strategic pivot for Neo toward an ‘agent‑first’ future. He argues the next wave of on‑chain activity will be driven increasingly by autonomous AI agents transacting on users’ behalf, and positions a revised ‘Neo X’ as optimized for that shift. He says the ultimate test for both the governance reboot and the AI thesis will be whether Neo completes the restructuring and attracts a meaningful pipeline of agent‑native projects within 12–24 months — and whether he would seek a board seat if those milestones are not met.
The proposal has split the project’s leadership and injected urgency into long‑running questions about how crypto projects should handle large treasuries, founder roles and transparency as they mature. Stakeholders and the wider market will be watching whether the plan wins support, how it addresses on‑chain verifiability and custody, and whether it helps Neo regain traction in a competitive ecosystem.