Erik Zhang announces temporary committee to assume Neo Foundation functions

Erik Zhang, Neo co-founder and core developer, announced on April 14 that he is forming a temporary emergency committee with core developers and community leaders to take over Neo Foundation operations, citing NF dysfunction, unpaid staff and community members, and eight months of suspended personal salary.

The announcement marks an escalation in an ongoing governance dispute between Zhang and fellow co-founder Da Hongfei, which became public in late December 2025. It comes just days after both founders published competing governance reform proposals on GitHub.

Emergency action and claims of dysfunction

Zhang stated that the NF “is now, in effect, in a state of dysfunction,” with most operational departments having “already begun to shut down.” He said community members and staff have gone without owed funding “for an extended period,” and that his own salary has been suspended for eight months.

In the announcement, Zhang cited his role as “founder of $NEO, a core developer, and an NF Board Member,” and framed the committee as a necessary intervention:

“To prevent further harm to the $NEO ecosystem as a result of governance failure, I, as the founder of $NEO, a core developer, and an NF Board Member, will, effective today, join with certain core developers and community leaders to establish a temporary committee.”

The committee aims to manage and use NF funds to ensure continued ecosystem operations. Zhang shared the primary NF fund address currently under his control and committed to publicly disclosing all funding decisions.

Zhang also reiterated his criticism of Da’s financial disclosures, stating that Da “has still failed to provide the community with a sufficiently open, transparent, and credible account of the Foundation’s financial condition.” Neo published its first financial report in over five years in March, disclosing US $460.8 million in total assets across the NF and Neo Global Development. The report was initially released as a preview and has since been finalized with no changes to the figures. NGD engaged a Hong Kong-based CPA firm to conduct an independent Agreed-Upon Procedures review, and published the results on April 2, confirming the quantities of seven digital assets held in NGD’s Binance account. The CPA firm’s identity was not publicly disclosed.

Temporary arrangement, two exit conditions

Zhang described the emergency action as explicitly temporary, stating it “is not intended to serve as a permanent governance arrangement.” The committee should be dissolved once either his own governance reform proposal or Da’s gains broad acceptance from the community.

The two proposals offer contrasting visions for Neo’s future governance structure.

Da Hongfei published a restructuring proposal on April 9 that would redomicile the NF from Singapore to the Cayman Islands, establish a five-seat board with both founders barred from serving for 24 months, redistribute approximately 26 million $NEO and 40 million GAS to tokenholders, and replace liquid voting with staked voting requiring a 180-day unbonding period.

Zhang responded four days later with a counter-proposal centered on historical accountability, domain-specific board authority, and conflict-of-interest exclusions. His proposal includes provisions for investigating corruption and improper asset disposition, and states that historical accountability “shall not be suspended, extinguished, or circumvented by governance restructuring, legal-entity restructuring, or changes in responsibilities.”

Both proposals share a five-seat board structure, independent supervisor role, on-chain governance, and $NEO tokenholder voting as the source of governance authority.

Zhang’s full statement can be found at the link below:
https://x.com/erikzhang/status/2043993575004975546