From Zero to Billions: How Da Hongfei Built NEO Into a Crypto Giant

The Origin Story

Da Hongfei, affectionately known as “Uncle Da” in crypto circles, is living proof that timing and vision can turn nothing into everything. Starting NEO (formerly Ant Share) in 2014 with literally zero capital, he’s now the architect behind one of Asia’s most influential blockchain projects.

Here’s the math that’ll blow your mind: NEO’s first ICO in October 2015 was priced at ~0.28 RMB. By early 2018, it hit 1,221 RMB—a 4,360x return. Even after the 90%+ crash from peak, it’s still delivering 300x profits to early believers. At its height, NEO commanded an ~80 billion RMB market cap, making it China’s first homegrown public chain.

The Hustle Phase

When Da founded NEO in 2014, he had nothing—no team, no investors, no runway. According to Elastos founder Han Feng, Da was literally cold-calling everyone for angel investments. Han even gave Da all 20 of his bitcoins just to help out. The story gets wild: Han eventually bought 400k NEO tokens at ~0.001 RMB, watched them moonshot to 1,000+ RMB, but couldn’t withdraw during the rally due to wallet issues. When he finally exited at 60-25 RMB, he still locked in a 300x return but admitted he “sold too early.”

The Dual-Currency Engine

NEO’s brilliance is its dual-token model: NEO (governance) + GAS (utility). Think of it as owning shares (NEO) that generate dividend cash (GAS). All 100M NEOs exist in the genesis block, but GAS is emitted gradually over ~22 years to NEO holders—creating continuous incentive alignment between holders and the network.

The Onchain Play

What most don’t know: Da Hongfei controls Onchain (70% stake), which incubates NEO projects. His co-founder Zhang Zhengwen holds 30%. This vertical integration is the blueprint for NEO’s ecosystem dominance.

The ONT Copycat That Worked

Onchain then launched Ontology (ONT)—basically NEO 2.0 with enterprise focus. ONT launched under $1 early 2018, but surged to $11 within a month (+1000%) while the entire market was bleeding. It’s now a $5B+ project, top-20 globally. ONT also uses the dual-currency model (ONT + ONG), proving the formula actually works at scale.

The Real Takeaway

Da Hongfei went from “no money, no people” to building two billion-dollar networks. The thesis: create a governance token, distribute via ICO, build network effects, launch ecosystem projects. Whether it was lucky timing or brilliant design is the million-dollar question—but the returns speak for themselves.