NeoPod held its first group AMA on June tenth, a wide-ranging text-based Discord session that includes NNT author and editor Dylan Grabowski that coated the present state of Neo, the continuing governance debate between its co-founders, and what the ecosystem wants to maneuver ahead.
This occasion marks a brand new chapter within the NeoPod 2.0 refresh, which was relaunched earlier this yr with a give attention to high-quality content material creation and deeper engagement with the group. Grabowski, who has labored at NNT since 2018, can be the host of the Good Financial system Podcast, and a voting member of the GrantShares and Neo Councils, was outspoken all through the session.
A fragmented ecosystem, however an ecosystem nonetheless combating
Grabowski gave a candid evaluation of Neo's place. He defined that the undertaking is presently battling a public feud between the 2 co-founders, a lower in on-chain exercise, and the group being pulled in several instructions.
“Mr. Neo has greater than $400 million in safes, and the 2 founders have accused one another of wrongdoing,” Grabowski stated. “Actually, it appears horrible.”
However he was fast to counter the pessimism by pointing to Neo's core improvement expertise, energetic developer group, and rising grassroots base. He pointed to group tasks corresponding to World of Parts, Neo Pink Capsule, NeoIgnite, and Raijin Protocol, in addition to content material creators producing materials in English, Indonesian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic.
He notably praised Neo's core builders, naming specifically Jimmy, Alibaba, Anna, Vitor, Roman, Igor, and Shargon.
“Neocore builders are, after all, a number of the smartest folks I've ever met in my life. With out their ardour and dedication, Neo would have ceased to perform years in the past.”
He famous that when neither founder was actively main, the core workforce independently found out what to give attention to and stored the undertaking shifting ahead.
“Staff Neo” – Governance Reset
Relating to the controversy between Da Hongfei and Eric Zhang, Grabowski firmly positioned himself as “Staff Neo” moderately than aligning himself with both founder.
“I don't have a 'aspect' on this dialogue; I simply need what's finest for customers, builders, and the ecosystem,” he stated. His place was formally expressed in a governance alignment proposal submitted as a GitHub pull request, which outlined two core suggestions. It has a brand new board of administrators comprised primarily of seasoned outsiders and consolidated multi-signature funds.
Mr. Grabowski argued that the present association, through which every founder controls signature entry to about half of Neo's property, is unsustainable.
“This isn’t how a profitable blockchain ecosystem is managed.”
He acknowledged that present ecosystem leaders could have an excessive amount of historical past and potential blind spots to fill board positions, and advocated for outsiders to convey contemporary views.
Stablecoins, RWA, and AI brokers as the best way ahead
Grabowski outlined a strategic imaginative and prescient centered round two pillars: stablecoins and real-world property within the quick time period, and AI brokers in the long run.
He revealed that he made a direct presentation to Da, Neo World Growth, Neo Basis, and Neo group in Hong Kong in October 2023, pitching USDC and USDT onboarding and courting RWA issuers.
“Think about if we had critically pursued Tether/Circle and RWA issuers again then, the state of Neo would undoubtedly be totally different than it’s as we speak,” he says.
Citing information from rwa.xyz, he identified that 263.83 million wallets presently maintain stablecoins throughout the US$300 billion market, with 900,000 wallets holding US$360 billion price of RWA.
“Stablecoins and RWA aren’t attractive. They received’t convey hundreds of thousands of customers to Neo. However they are going to enshrine capital on our chain and convey long-term companions.”
Relating to AI brokers, Grabowski pointed to a future through which autonomous brokers transact on-chain extra ceaselessly than people, arguing that the permissionless infrastructure of cryptocurrencies is a pure match for brokers who lack the id documentation required for conventional monetary rails. He identified that Neo's SpoonOS already addresses this house.
Decline of the flamingo
Mr. Grabowski spoke about Flamingo Finance, which laid off all employees in early 2026 and disclosed its FUSD debt standing in April.
“In the event you look again at Neo's historical past, shedding Flamingo would most likely be one of many largest stains on the ecosystem's monitor file,” he says.
Neo X positive factors momentum
Mr. Grabowski acknowledged a change in his opinion concerning the adoption of Neo X. 4 months in the past, he stated, N3 was claiming to be the chain everybody would use. Present information tells a unique story. The Neo X persistently logs 2,500 to three,000 transactions each day, in comparison with 500 to 2,000 for the Neo N3.
He attributed this enhance to a brand new transition interval from Legacy to Neo X, expanded Trade help for Neo X property, and SpoonOS improvement primarily oriented in the direction of EVM appropriate chains. Nonetheless, he expressed warning, noting that Neo had beforehand seen that the premise of builders becoming a member of just because the expertise was out there had failed within the N3 period.
He recommended that the best end result can be competitors between the 2 chains.
“When the builders of each chains begin having a starvation to beat the opposite chain, all of us win,” he stated.
Regardless of the challenges, Grabowski supplied an optimistic closing assertion, pointing to the institutional adoption of blockchain, the energy of constructing in a bear market, and the resilience of Neo's group as causes for confidence.
“The blockchain ecosystem is barely doomed to fail when nobody needs to remain there and combat,” he stated. “And regardless of Neo’s shortcomings, there may be nonetheless a group that perseveres and fights for our future.”
The total AMA came about on the NeoPod Discord server.
