Da Hongfei, founder and co-chair of the Neo Foundation, discussed his restructuring proposal in a public AMA on X Spaces on April 10, acknowledging responsibility for the governance deadlock, committing to a timeline for locking foundation tokens in a multi-signature address, and calling on the community to participate in shaping the outcome. Da was joined by moderator Tanzeel Akhtar and crypto commentator Dennis Liu (VirtualBacon).
The full proposal outlines five measures spanning foundation redomiciliation, governance redesign, staked voting, token redistribution, and asset consolidation. The AMA focused on the reasoning behind the proposal, the implementation timeline, and community questions.
“I own that mistake”
Da acknowledged that the divergence between himself and co-founder Erik Zhang had existed for years, and that his own inaction allowed it to become entrenched.
“The co-founder and I have diverged on visions, on priorities, and on which direction Neo should go, especially on the governance part. So that divergence has existed actually for quite many years,” Da said. “But I didn’t act on it decisively. I kept trying to resolve it internally, deferring hard decisions and hoping alignment would return, but it didn’t.”
He added: “Indecision on my part is the biggest reason why Neo’s governance has been paralyzed in recent years. I need to be frank that I own that mistake.”
Da described the current Singapore CLG structure as a deadlock in which neither budget approvals, structural changes, nor leadership decisions could move forward when the co-founders disagreed. “The choices are very clear,” he said. “Either we keep deferring and let the paralysis continue, or we need a complete restructuring overhaul of the governance mechanism. And I choose the second option.”
Lock address: the first tangible proof
Dennis Liu, a crypto YouTube commentator with nearly one million subscribers who has followed Neo since 2017, asked what would separate this from prior commitments.
“What I do want to see is first the lock address, and then that’s the first tangible proof that things are moving,” Liu said. “The tokens have to move to a multisig from a single-sig control, and then we can have independent parties, we can have the community verify on-chain. That’s when the restructuring starts to become real, not theoretical.”
Da outlined a one-to-three month timeline for transferring Neo Foundation and Neo Global Development-controlled NEO and GAS to a publicly disclosed multi-signature lock address, contingent on community consensus. Neither founder would hold keys. The tokens would remain locked with no withdrawals, no sales, and no reallocation until the full Giveback II rebasing upgrade is deployed.
Neo’s FY 2025 Financial Report disclosed 41 million NEO and 40 million GAS held across the NF and NGD, with 86% in single-signature wallets. Approximately $227 million in Bitcoin, cash and equivalents, and other investments are also currently held by NGD. Under the proposal, all assets would be transferred into custody of the new NF.
“We are having a quite healthy treasury status right now. But it looks good on paper,” Da said. “The problem is the concentration of tokens is actually a risk of centralization.”
A proposal, not a plan
Da addressed the status of the restructuring document directly.
“I need to be very clear. This is still a proposal proposed by me and by NGD. It’s not a plan yet, and it’s not a promise,” he said. “The purpose of this proposal is for the community to review it, to challenge, and to support. I’m not making commitments behind closed doors and asking people to trust me. I’m putting the full plan in the open.”
The proposal requires community buy-in to advance, and parts of it, particularly the lock address transfer, require cooperation from Zhang, who has responded with objections to elements of the plan including the Cayman redomiciliation and the 24-month founder exclusion from the board.
Investor perspective
Liu noted the governance design stood apart from typical DAO structures.
“This is very different from a typical DAO structure where the token holder only controls the DAO, but the entity itself is kind of closed doors, just a board that votes by itself,” Liu said. “This is the first one I’ve seen where everything votes from the token holder level.”
On the impeachment mechanism: “I’ve never seen that before. Serious institutional design at the token level.”
Liu also pointed to the timeline as a built-in accountability mechanism. “There are specific structures, timelines, mechanisms, and even lock addresses. If they don’t go live in three months, then people will know.”
Stablecoin, LayerZero progress
Da also provided updates on two ecosystem priorities.
On cross-chain infrastructure: “We’ve been working with LayerZero and they have deployed their test contract on the Neo network. We’ve completed the test on the TestNet and the implementation on Neo X MainNet will follow soon.”
On stablecoins: “We’ve talked to one major stablecoin issuer and they have put us in contact with their infrastructure provider. We are doing some integration talk with their infrastructure provider at the moment.”
“The cross-chain, the stablecoin integration is not just conceptual or hope, there is real progress in the last couple of months,” Da said.
Not stepping away
Asked whether the restructuring signals his departure, Da responded directly.
“I want to emphasize that I’m not leaving the community, I’m not leaving the project. This proposal is about removing the structural dependence on me. It’s not about me stepping away,” Da said. “In fact, I plan to be more active than before, because the motivation to engage is stronger when the governance is right.”
“The whole point of blockchain is that an institution, a mechanism, can exist without depending on any single actor. Neo, as one of the oldest blockchains, should be a living example of that.”
Community participation
Da closed by asking the community to engage with the proposal directly.
“I’m not asking the community to wait and see. I’m not asking the community to just read the proposal. I’m asking you to read it, to challenge it, to improve it. And if you believe in it, publicly say so,” he said. “Be vocal, be visible. Say so on GitHub, in the forums, on social media, in our community calls. The louder the support, the faster this moves from idea to execution to fact.”
The full interview can be found at the link below:
https://x.com/Tanzeel_Akhtar/status/2042424645723603353
About The Author: Dean Jeffs
Dean is a digital project manager who has worked extensively with start ups and agencies in the marketing space. Fascinated by the potential applications of blockchain technology, Dean has a passion for realising the new smart economy.
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