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 ￰1￱ CEO Humayun Sheikh and the Ocean Protocol Foundation, threatening to dismantle one of crypto’s most ambitious AI collaborations, the Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) ￰2￱ conflict, which centers on about 286 million ￰3￱ (FET) tokens worth roughly $84 million, has spiraled into on-chain accusations, legal threats, and an unexpected reaction from Binance. Additionally, the dispute raises questions about governance within the ASI Alliance, leaving holders unsure about the future structure and security of their ￰4￱ Quits ASI Alliance: What Is Happening? The ASI Alliance was formed in 2024 to unite three leading AI-focused blockchain projects, Fetch.

ai, Ocean Protocol, and SingularityNET, under a single token ￰5￱ fallout started earlier this month after Ocean announced its complete withdrawal from the ASI Alliance earlier this month.) October 10, 2025 However, tensions escalated when Sheikh accused Ocean Protocol of secretly minting and converting millions of tokens before the ￰6￱ Accusation: Ocean Protocol Hit with “Rug Pull” Allegations as ￰7￱ CEO Exposes Secret Token Conversions In a detailed post on X, Sheikh alleged that Ocean minted 719 million OCEAN tokens in 2023, later converting 661 million of them into 286 million FET tokens in July ￰8￱ claimed large portions of these tokens were transferred to centralized exchanges and trading firms such as GSR Markets and ExaGroup without proper ￰9￱ legals are happening and we take every action possible to fix this problem.

I want to lay out facts and events so community can see what is ￰10￱ Ocean as stand alone project did this it would be classed as a rug pull! (Only my opinion)… On May 25, 2023, the… ￰11￱ — Humayun (@HMsheikh4) October 15, 2025 Sheikh described the move as a “rug pull” if done by a stand-alone project and called on Binance and other firms to investigate the ￰12￱ data cited by Sheikh shows that, between July 3 and July 14, 2025, more than 76 million FET tokens were moved to specific wallets, including 21 million sent to Binance and over 55 million to a GSR-linked ￰13￱ the past 3 months: @oceanprotocol sold 196M $FET @Fetch_ai sold 43M $FET @SingularityNET sold 6M $FET During this period, the price of #FET $FET dropped by over 50%.

Do you think the price drop was caused by the project team dumping? ￰0￱ ￰14￱ — Whaler Talk (捕鲸者说) (@whalertalk) October 15, 2025 Another 13.5 million FET were allegedly transferred to an account funded by ExaGroup, with nearly 200 million remaining tokens later distributed to multiple Gnosis Safe wallets in ￰15￱ claimed most of those funds have since been sent to ￰16￱ the dispute intensified, Binance announced on Wednesday that it would stop supporting Ocean deposits via the Ethereum network starting October ￰17￱ exchange warned users that ERC-20 OCEAN deposits made after that date “will not be credited and may lead to asset loss.” While Binance did not mention the feud directly, the timing and network restriction raised speculation that the platform was responding to risks linked to the disputed ￰18￱ said Binance’s move reflected the exchange “listening” to community concerns about Ocean’s ￰19￱ the exit, Sheikh pledged to personally fund class-action lawsuits in at least three jurisdictions and urged affected FET holders to gather evidence of financial ￰20￱ you are or were a holder of $fet and have lost money during this Ocean action be ready with your evidence.

I am personally funding a class action in 3 or possibly more jurisdictions. I will be setting up a channel for all to submit your ￰21￱ tight and be ready! — Humayun (@HMsheikh4) October 16, 2025 He also accused Ocean of converting community reward tokens before the departure and demanded public disclosure of wallet signatories linked to the OceanDAO and Ocean Expedition ￰22￱ Protocol Denies $84M Token Misuse Allegations: Lawsuits Incoming In a statement posted on X, the foundation affirmed that its treasury “remains intact” and confirmed that the dispute has entered formal arbitration under the ASI merger ￰23￱ is working and ￰24￱ are refraining from engaging in unfounded claims and harmful rumours that make the situation worse for the entire ASI and Ocean ￰25￱ had earlier suggested waiving confidentiality over the adjudicator's recent findings as a means of… — Ocean Protocol (@oceanprotocol) October 16, 2025 Ocean also disclosed that it had proposed waiving confidentiality over an adjudicator’s findings to ensure transparency, a move it claims was rejected by Fetch.

ai’s CEO, Humayun Sheikh. “Ocean is working and active,” the statement read. “We are preparing responses to the various unfounded claims and allegations while respecting the ambits of the law.” Ocean further acknowledged Binance’s sole discretion over OCEAN’s listing and deposits, noting it remains committed to “productive and collaborative cooperation” with the exchange as trading activity and investor scrutiny ￰26￱ arbitration marks a key juncture for both sides, with legal outcomes likely to shape the future of token governance and trust within the decentralized AI ￰27￱ and OCEAN Prices Plunge as Legal Battle Looms, but What Might Be the Cause of the Breakup?

The controversy has shaken confidence in the once-unified AI coalition. FET’s price dropped nearly 10% in 24 hours, trading at $0.2954, while OCEAN fell to $0.26 after losing more than 70% of its value since March.