Ocean vs. Fetch.ai Turns Ugly: Inside the $84M ASI Token Scandal Tearing Crypto’s AI Giants Apart
A high-stakes feud has erupted between Fetch.ai CEO Humayun Sheikh and the Ocean Protocol Foundation, threatening to dismantle one among crypto’s most bold AI collaborations, the Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) Alliance.
The battle, which facilities on about 286 million Fetch.ai (FET) tokens value roughly $84 million, has spiraled into on-chain accusations, authorized threats, and an surprising response from Binance.
Additionally, the dispute raises questions on governance inside the ASI Alliance, leaving holders uncertain about the future construction and safety of their property.
Ocean Quits ASI Alliance: What Is Happening?
The ASI Alliance was formed in 2024 to unite three main AI-focused blockchain initiatives, Fetch.ai, Ocean Protocol, and SingularityNET, below a single token framework.
The fallout began earlier this month after Ocean announced its full withdrawal from the ASI Alliance earlier this month.
The basis stated it was resigning all director and membership roles from the Singapore-based Superintelligence Alliance Ltd., marking the finish of its collaboration with Fetch.ai and SingularityNET.
While the basis cited authorized constraints stopping it from revealing full particulars, Ocean hinted at deeper conflicts. “We are, nonetheless, constrained from sharing the reality and information at the second,” the assertion learn. “Please stand by whereas the course of works its manner by means of, and as quickly as we will share extra, we are going to.”
However, tensions escalated when Sheikh accused Ocean Protocol of secretly minting and changing hundreds of thousands of tokens earlier than the merger.
The Accusation: Ocean Protocol Hit with “Rug Pull” Allegations as Fetch.ai CEO Exposes Secret Token Conversions
In an in depth put up on X, Sheikh alleged that Ocean minted 719 million OCEAN tokens in 2023, later changing 661 million of them into 286 million FET tokens in July 2025.
He claimed massive parts of those tokens have been transferred to centralized exchanges and buying and selling corporations akin to GSR Markets and ExaGroup with out correct disclosure.
Sheikh described the transfer as a “rug pull” if performed by a stand-alone undertaking and known as on Binance and different corporations to research the transactions.
Blockchain data cited by Sheikh exhibits that, between July 3 and July 14, 2025, greater than 76 million FET tokens have been moved to particular wallets, together with 21 million despatched to Binance and over 55 million to a GSR-linked handle.
Another 13.5 million FET have been allegedly transferred to an account funded by ExaGroup, with practically 200 million remaining tokens later distributed to a number of Gnosis Safe wallets in August.
Sheikh claimed most of these funds have since been despatched to Binance.
As the dispute intensified, Binance announced on Wednesday that it will cease supporting Ocean deposits through the Ethereum community beginning October 20.
The trade warned customers that ERC-20 OCEAN deposits made after that date “won’t be credited and will result in asset loss.”
While Binance didn’t point out the feud instantly, the timing and community restriction raised hypothesis that the platform was responding to dangers linked to the disputed tokens.
Sheikh said Binance’s move mirrored the trade “listening” to neighborhood issues about Ocean’s transfers.
Following the exit, Sheikh pledged to personally fund class-action lawsuits in at the least three jurisdictions and urged affected FET holders to collect proof of economic losses.
He additionally accused Ocean of changing neighborhood reward tokens earlier than the departure and demanded public disclosure of pockets signatories linked to the OceanDAO and Ocean Expedition entities.
Ocean Protocol Denies $84M Token Misuse Allegations: Lawsuits Incoming
In a statement posted on X, the basis affirmed that its treasury “stays intact” and confirmed that the dispute has entered formal arbitration below the ASI merger framework.
Ocean
is working and lively. We are refraining from partaking in unfounded claims and dangerous rumours that make the scenario worse for the whole ASI and Ocean communities. Ocean had earlier advised waiving confidentiality over the adjudicator’s current findings as a way of…
— Ocean Protocol (@oceanprotocol) October 16, 2025
Ocean additionally disclosed that it had proposed waiving confidentiality over an adjudicator’s findings to make sure transparency, a transfer it claims was rejected by Fetch.ai’s CEO, Humayun Sheikh.
“Ocean is working and lively,” the assertion learn. “We are making ready responses to the varied unfounded claims and allegations whereas respecting the ambits of the regulation.”
Ocean further acknowledged Binance’s sole discretion over OCEAN’s itemizing and deposits, noting it stays dedicated to “productive and collaborative cooperation” with the trade as buying and selling exercise and investor scrutiny intensify.
The arbitration marks a key juncture for either side, with authorized outcomes more likely to form the way forward for token governance and belief inside the decentralized AI ecosystem.
FET and OCEAN Prices Plunge as Legal Battle Looms, however What Might Be the Cause of the Breakup?
The controversy has shaken confidence in the once-unified AI coalition. FET’s value dropped practically 10% in 24 hours, buying and selling at $0.2954, whereas OCEAN fell to $0.26 after dropping greater than 70% of its worth since March.
Central to the cut up are elementary disagreements over tokenomics and undertaking path.
Ocean, whose mission facilities on constructing a decentralized information market, sought extra autonomy to maintain its imaginative and prescient of user-owned information layers for the AI economic system
Fetch.ai, in the meantime, has been centered on growing autonomous AI brokers and advancing a broader AGI token ecosystem alongside SingularityNET.
The dispute got here to a head over the token merger construction. Under the ASI consolidation plan, OCEAN holders have been provided a set trade price to swap their tokens for FET, which was rebranded as ASI.
This mounted price, which mixed with Fetch.ai’s issuance of latest tokens to soak up OCEAN provide, launched inflationary strain that harm each tokens’ market efficiency.
Ocean’s neighborhood, which largely resisted full conversion, seen the association as unfavorable and opposite to its long-term token worth technique. Roughly 270 million OCEAN tokens throughout 37,000 wallets stay unconverted.
In response, Ocean introduced a buyback and burn initiative funded by undertaking income to revive market confidence and scale back provide. The workforce additionally inspired main exchanges, together with Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance US, to relist OCEAN, thereby pushing to reclaim its unbiased market presence.
The fallout has now escalated right into a authorized dispute, with either side buying and selling accusations of mismanagement and deceptive conduct.
What started as an bold collaboration to unite decentralized AI initiatives now stands as a cautionary story of how conflicting governance fashions and tokenomics can fracture even the most visionary partnerships.
The put up Ocean vs. Fetch.ai Turns Ugly: Inside the $84M ASI Token Scandal Tearing Crypto’s AI Giants Apart appeared first on Cryptonews.
