NEO's founders, Da Hongfei and Zhang Zhengwen, have publicly clashed over control and transparency issues within the project. Da Hongfei accused Zhang of monopolizing NEO/GAS assets and failing to transfer them to a multisignature wallet as promised, claiming this has allowed Zhang to dominate protocol governance. Da Hongfei, who had remained silent to maintain community trust, now vows to release a financial report in early 2026 and regain control of the treasury. In response, Zhang Zhengwen argued that Da Hongfei has sole control over all foundation assets except NEO/GAS, without providing any financial disclosures. Zhang defended his retention of NEO/GAS as a necessary measure for risk control, warning that transferring these assets to Da Hongfei's opaque structure could have severe consequences.