The AI Alliance ASI is on the verge of collapse! Fetch.ai accuses Ocean Protocol of secretly transferring $84 million FET, and the exchange responds urgently.

Fetch.ai CEO Humayun Sheikh had a fierce dispute with the Ocean Protocol Foundation, threatening the future of the most ambitious AI collaboration project in the crypto industry - the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (ASI Alliance). At the heart of the dispute is approximately 286 million Fetch.ai [FET] tokens (worth about $84 million). Ocean Protocol announced its complete withdrawal from the ASI Alliance in early October, after which Sheikh publicly accused Ocean of secretly minting and converting millions of tokens before the merger. As the dispute escalated, a mainstream CEX announced it would stop supporting deposits of OCEAN through the Ethereum network starting October 20, raising concerns in the market about governance and asset security.

ASI Alliance Disbandment Controversy: Ocean Protocol Exits and Legal Disputes Escalate

ASI Alliance was established in 2024 with the aim of uniting the three major AI blockchain projects, Fetch.ai, Ocean Protocol, and SingularityNET, to form a single Token framework.

· Ocean Protocol exits the alliance

The Ocean Protocol Foundation announced its complete withdrawal from the ASI Alliance at the beginning of October, resigning from all director and member positions, marking the end of its collaboration with Fetch.ai and SingularityNET.

The foundation hinted at deeper conflicts, but stated that it is temporarily unable to disclose all details due to legal restrictions.

· The “carpet bombing” accusation by the CEO of Fetch.ai

Tensions are escalating, Sheikh accused Ocean Protocol of minting 719 million OCEAN tokens in 2023 and converting 661 million of them into 286 million FET tokens in July 2025.

He claimed that the majority of these Tokens were transferred to mainstream CEX and trading companies such as GSR Markets and ExaGroup without proper disclosure. Sheikh described this action as a “Rug Pull” and called for institutions like mainstream CEX to investigate it.

On-chain data reveals: the mysterious flow of $84 million tokens

Sheikh cited blockchain data, detailing the transaction records involving 84 million dollars FET Token.

· Token flow to CEX and trading companies

The on-chain data cited by Sheikh shows that from July 3 to July 14, 2025, over 76 million FET Tokens were transferred to specific wallets, with 21 million sent to CEX and over 55 million sent to addresses associated with GSR.

Another 13.5 million FET were transferred to an account allegedly funded by ExaGroup, and nearly 200 million remaining tokens were subsequently allocated to multiple Gnosis Safe wallets in August.

· CEX takes action

As the dispute escalates, a CEX announced on Wednesday that it will stop supporting deposits of OCEAN Tokens via the Ethereum network starting October 20th, warning that deposits of ERC-20 OCEAN Tokens made after this date may result in asset loss.

Sheikh believes that this move reflects that the exchange has “listened to” the community's concerns regarding the Ocean transfer.

Clash of the Parties: Fundamental Differences Between Legal Arbitration and Token Economics

Ocean Protocol denies the allegations of abuse and confirms that the dispute has entered the formal arbitration stage, while the core of the alliance breakup lies in the fundamental disagreement over token economics.

· Ocean Protocol denies the allegations.

The Ocean Protocol Foundation denied the allegations of misuse of 84 million dollars in tokens in a statement, confirming that its treasury “remains intact.”

The foundation stated that it has proposed to waive the confidentiality of the arbitration ruling to ensure transparency, but claimed that the proposal was rejected by the CEO of Fetch.ai.

· The token merger structure is the core contradiction.

Ocean Protocol focuses on building a decentralized data marketplace, while Fetch.ai emphasizes developing autonomous AI agents. The fundamental difference between the two lies in their token economics and project direction.

According to the ASI merger plan, OCEAN holders can exchange for FET (which will be renamed ASI) at a fixed exchange rate. The Ocean community believes that this arrangement is detrimental to its long-term token value strategy, resulting in approximately 270 million OCEAN tokens remaining unconverted.

· Legal Actions and Market Impact

Sheikh has pledged to personally invest in filing class actions in at least three jurisdictions.

Affected by this controversy, FET price has dropped nearly 10% to 0.2954 dollars in the 24 hours, while OCEAN fell to 0.26 dollars, losing more than 70% of its value since March.

Conclusion

The collapse of the ASI Alliance and Fetch.ai's allegations of token abuse against Ocean Protocol reveal the significant risks of conflicts in governance and token economics within the decentralized AI space. This high-risk legal dispute and the involvement of mainstream CEX undoubtedly bring great uncertainty to holders of FET and OCEAN. Regardless of the arbitration outcome, this incident will serve as a cautionary case for governance models and project trust in decentralized AI collaborations.

This article is for news information only and does not constitute any investment advice. The encryption market is highly volatile, and investors should make decisions cautiously.