Once dubbed the “Ethereum of China,” the veteran public chain NEO’s two founders, Erik Zhang and Da Hongfei, are embroiled in an escalating internal dispute. Today, Erik Zhang announced the outcome of their talks, describing it as “neither surprising nor pleasant.” After all three of his minimum demands were rejected, he officially called for Da Hongfei to resign from the ecosystem leadership. Da Hongfei immediately counterattacked, accusing Erik of “distorting facts,” emphasizing that their goals are aligned but their methods differ.
(Background: NEO founders release public statement over disputes in financial control and governance)
(Additional context: NEO founders previously agreed to meet in Hong Kong to resolve financial disputes)

Table of Contents

• Erik Zhang: All three minimum demands rejected
• Da Hongfei responds: This is not oversight, it’s dictatorship
• The origins of the dispute: From “black box finances” to “control rights battle”

The governance dispute between NEO’s two founders, Erik Zhang and Da Hongfei, has once again intensified today. The previously scheduled negotiation meeting ended in failure, and the public exchange of accusations has cast a shadow over the future of this veteran public chain.

Erik Zhang: All three minimum demands rejected

Erik Zhang posted on X that the outcome of his talks with Da Hongfei was “neither surprising nor pleasant.” He outlined three “minimum demands”:

• Establish a verifiable financial oversight mechanism
• Abandon the competing project EON
• Authorize him to post on the NEO official website and official X account

However, all three demands were rejected. Erik stated he saw “no sincerity for cooperation” in the other party and officially called for Da Hongfei to resign from NEO’s ecosystem leadership.

Notably, Erik had previously publicly criticized Da Hongfei for starting the EON project after being ousted from the leadership, considering it a “fundamental conflict of interest,” and said “NEO founders should not do such things.”

Da Hongfei responds: This is not oversight, it’s dictatorship

In response to Erik’s accusations, Da Hongfei quickly posted a rebuttal, accusing Erik of “distorting facts.” He revealed that the so-called “financial oversight mechanism” Erik demanded actually means “every transaction and expenditure requires my approval,” and bluntly stated:

This is not a mechanism; this is dictatorship.

Da Hongfei said he had proposed a compromise: starting this year, releasing more transparent and detailed quarterly financial reports for NF (Neo Foundation) and NGD (Neo Global Development), and authorizing Erik to publish news blogs and manage Neo’s official accounts on neo.org.

He emphasized that their goals are actually aligned—“the growth and revival of NEO”—and that they should work together where possible and operate independently where their approaches differ to resolve governance issues accumulated over recent years.

The origins of the dispute: From “black box finances” to “control rights battle”

This public conflict was first exposed in December 2024 by Wu Blockchain. At that time, Erik Zhang accused the foundation’s finances of becoming a “black box,” with assets outside of NEO/GAS (such as BTC, ETH, and past investment tokens) all held personally by Da Hongfei, lacking any public financial reports.

Da Hongfei countered that Erik Zhang is actually the one controlling “the vast majority” of NEO’s treasury assets and consensus node voting rights, and has been advocating for transferring funds to a multi-signature wallet managed by the community for years, but has repeatedly delayed.

It is understood that Da Hongfei has reduced his direct involvement in the NEO mainnet since January 2026, focusing instead on developing cross-chain protocol NeoX and blockchain operating system SpoonOS. The NEO Foundation previously promised to release a full financial report in Q1 2026, which may clarify some of the disputes.

This founder war has sparked strong community attention, with many calling it a “governance collapse.” As a veteran chain founded in 2014 and once a pioneer among early smart contract platforms, NEO now faces a leadership split crisis, and its future development remains to be closely watched.