ASI Alliance Conflict Escalates as Fetch’s Founder Threatens Lawsuit Against Ocean Protocol

The conflict between crypto AI projects Ocean Protocol and Fetch.ai has escalated with threats of litigation. Fetch.ai founder Humayun Sheikh stated on X that he is ready to sponsor three class action lawsuits against Ocean Protocol.

This latest statement marks an escalation of the situation that started when Ocean Protocol exited the Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) Alliance.

Fetch.ai Likens Ocean Protocol’s ASI Alliance Exit to Rug Pull

The conflict over the Ocean Protocol’s exit from the ASI Alliance started almost a week ago. While Ocean did not give a reason for its sudden withdrawal, criticisms from Sheik quickly showed it was not amicable.

According to the Fetch.ai founder, Ocean Protocol withdrawal was a unilateral move. He later accused Ocean of swapping over 660 million OCEAN tokens for 286.4 million FET tokens in July. He claimed that Ocean Protocol has been moving and liquidating the FET tokens since July.

However, the protocol still had 196.45 million FET left, which it moved to different addresses on August 31. Sheikh claimed that most of these tokens have now been liquidated and compared it to a rug pull.

The Fetch.ai founder called on Binance to take action while blaming Ocean protocol for the decline in FET value.

He said:

“If 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.”

Meanwhile, Ocean Protocol founder Bruce Pon initially responded to Sheikh. According to him, the claims are baseless, and there is an ongoing legal proceeding on the matter.

Pons also offered to waive confidentiality if other ASI Alliance members also agree. However, Sheik rejected this offer, noting that waiving confidentiality might have larger legal consequences.

Ocean Protocol has now promised to respond to the allegations within legal limits. It said:

“We are therefore preparing responses to the various unfounded claims and allegations while respecting the ambits of the law.”

Binance Ends Deposit for OCEAN on ERC-20 as FET Sees Massive Crash

Interestingly, the world’s largest exchange, Binance, has announced that it will cease support for OCEAN deposits via the ERC-20 standard.  According to the exchange, deposits on ERC-20 tokens will stop from October 20.

However, users will still be able to deposit using other supported networks. Sheik has praised the decision, which he considers a sign that Binance heard his concerns.

Ocean Protocol also stated that it accepts Binance’s discretion on its listing and deposit process. However, the protocol said it will look to further collaborate with the exchange.

Meanwhile, the conflict has further damaged the value for holders of both FET and OCEAN. Over the past seven days, FET has lost 45% of its value, compounding its year-to-date (YTD) loss to 79.22%.

OCEAN has equally seen a drop in value, although at a less drastic rate. The token has declined 22% over the past week, losing 56.9% of its value YTD.