Fetch.ai CEO Humayun Sheikh has offered a $250,000 reward for information on OceanDAO’s multi-signature wallet signers. The announcement reignited tensions with Ocean Protocol over allegations of misappropriation of funds related to the alliance ahead of the 2024 merger.
The controversy dates back to a token conversion that took place before the Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) Alliance, an initiative that brought together Fetch.ai, Ocean Protocol, and SingularityNet, took effect.
Ocean Protocol accused of pre-merger transfer
Sheikh offered a $250,000 reward to anyone who provided information linking OceanDAO’s multisig wallet signers to the Ocean Protocol Foundation. Multisig wallets require the signatures of multiple users to approve a single crypto transaction, making them a common security mechanism for shared control.
According to on-chain analytics platform Bubblemaps, before the ASI merger took place, Ocean Protocol converted 661 million OCEANs into 286 million FETs. Blockchain data shows that 270 million FETs were later transferred to exchanges, of which 160 million were transferred to Binance and 109 million to GSR Markets.
Sheikh claimed that the conversion violated the spirit of the alliance’s trust. “Funds meant for the community were misappropriated,” he wrote on X, urging Binance and GSR to investigate.
We are offering a $250,000 reward to anyone who can uncover the OceanDAO signatories and their ties to the Ocean Foundation. https://t.co/PmGBtou9vI
— Humayun (@HMsheikh4) October 21, 2025
Ocean Protocol denied the allegations as “baseless” and announced that it would formally respond.
Binance had already ended support for OCEAN deposits on October 15, days before Sheikh’s public statement. The exchange did not cite the dispute as the cause, but the timing prompted speculation.
Sheikh also subsequently pledged to fund a multi-jurisdictional class action lawsuit to hold Ocean Protocol accountable.
Legal fallout and market impact
Analysts say the feud could completely change investor confidence in AI and token partnerships. The ASI merger, once valued at more than $7 billion, was aimed at unifying decentralized AI development, but is now facing reputational damage.
Sheikh’s bounty move could prompt deeper scrutiny of multi-signature governance and custody of tokens across crypto alliances. The legal proceedings could set a precedent for future consortium-based blockchain projects, especially those involving asset conversion.
Ocean Protocol officially withdrew from the ASI Alliance on October 9th, but no explanation was given regarding the movement of the disputed tokens. The escalating dispute highlights the fragility of trust in crypto joint ventures that lack transparent governance mechanisms.
FET performance over the past year / Source: Coingecko
As of October 21st, Fetch.ai’s native token FET is trading around $0.25, reflecting a 9% decline over the past 24 hours amid heightened market volatility and community uncertainty. FET reached an all-time high of $3.45 in late March 2024. That means the current price has fallen about 92% from its peak.
OCEAN performance over the past year / Source: Coingecko
Ocean Protocol’s native token “OCEAN” also fell 4% from the previous day to around $0.25. The all-time high was $1.93 in mid-April 2021, and the current price is about 87% below that peak.
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